Thursday, March 24, 2011

One reason for the sky-high unemployment rates may be that 65 million Americans, or nearly 1 in 4 adults, have a criminal record

Help wanted — sixty-five million need not apply - Yahoo! News
"Sixty-five million Americans—or one in four adults—have a criminal record. But employers—including major companies like Bank of America, Omni Hotel, and Domino's Pizza—routinely post job ads on Craigslist that explicitly exclude such applicants, according to a new report conducted by the National Employment Law Center (NELP), a labor-affiliated advocacy group."

If you make enough laws, we're all criminals.  Non-violent drug offenses account for a huge number of these "criminals."  Isn't it obvious to everyone that the negatives of America's drug puritanism far outweigh the positives?  Come on people!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too many laws since govt wants to micromanage every facet of life. I've heard the typical US citizen breaks 3+ laws per day. Our per-capita incarceration rate leads the world and is 6x the global avg.

And, the lock 'em up, once-a-criminal always-a-criminal mentality that permeates this "Christian" nation has virtually eliminated the concept of second chances in America. Prisons used to be "correctional" facilities to rehabilitate. Now, the debt to society is never repaid as convicts face lifelong struggles to overcome the stigma and limitations imposed on them, even for victimless offenses perpetrated decades earlier.

Perhaps I sound jaded, but I have never been arrested. I just get agitated by the sense of injustice and fear mongering that has swept the country over the last couple decades.