He's a Jolly Good Felon
David Weigel | March 27, 2008, 6:49pm
Tim Vanderpool has a
depressing story about the fates of felons who try and rebuild their lives by setting out on new careers.
Some students nearly have their diploma in hand before they learn of their newest, sometimes insurmountable hurdle.
Michele Convie can tell you how that feels. She did time for two smallish pot busts, but nearly two decades later--and after earning a degree from Pima Community College--she faced a bureaucratic jungle in getting security clearance as a social worker. When ex-felons apply for such clearance, processed through the Arizona Department of Public Safety, "they deny you immediately," she says, "without telling you how to appeal."
According to Convie, the student's history is scrutinized for every infraction, right down to the last traffic ticket. Even then, they can be denied--laying waste to all their college tuition and hard work.
Sure, fine, but how does that affect you?
There's now an estimated 10 percent shortage of nurses, and by the year 2020, that number is expected to jump to 30 percent.
But according to state licensing protocols, "the Board of Nursing shall not grant a license, or shall revoke a license if previously granted, or decline to renew the license of an applicant who has one or more felony convictions and who has not received an absolute discharge from the sentences for all felony convictions five or more years before the date of filing an application."
And truck drivers? The American Trucking Association estimates that the industry is currently short about 20,000 drivers--a number that could rise to 110,000 over the next few years. Still, the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division won't issue a license to anyone convicted of a DUI with a blood-alcohol level higher than 0.04 in the past year.
For a less sympathetic take on the issue,
check out Walter Olson's 1999 piece on felon protection.
Someone with a past | March 27, 2008, 9:26pm | #
I am an off and on poster here at Hit and Run. For this particular post, I will withhold my usual name because I generally don't like admitting to the trouble I got into when I was 19 years old.
At that time, I was in a very bad point in my life and I made it worse by using drugs and alcohol (to extreme excess). My neighbors were away on vacation and in a drunken stupor after a family argument, I went to their home, popped the door (it was a mobile home)and went inside to get away. Anyhow, the next door neighbor noticed the door wide open and called the police. They interviewed the neighbors and wanted to talk to me. They grilled me and I confessed. Was convicted of burglary and spent one month in the county jail.
It's something I will always be ashamed for and I have done everything in my power since then (I'm in my early 40s)to make things right. I volunteer in my community, give blood at blood drives, taught my child to respect other people's property and not steal. Still, all these years later, my youthful stupidity haunts me. Luckily, I moved out of that state shortly after my probation was finished and I started life all over again here in California. I have gone to college, got a degree, became married and have been holding steady work here since my mid 20s. My current job has a significant amount of responsibility as well.
I consider myself lucky because i know most employers who do background checks on potential employees only do criminal searches within their own state. Since I have NO criminal history in California, I check out clean. If I was in my previous state, I'd frankly be screwed. I would likely be working at a near-minimum wage job and perhaps debating about criminal acts like selling drugs. I don't know and I am glad that thus far, my past has eluded me here in California. I have even been actively involved in the Libertarian Party and no one knows about my past.
With the merging of databases nationwide, I am more than certain that eventually, someone is going to find out and at that point, my life will be tarnished in a state that has offered me that rare second chance.
