Convicts

In today’s society, reputation and representation is almost everything to few, but even then both of those are part of everyone’s everyday life. It takes a while to build up a reputation, but in a course of a day you can lose it very easily through some poor decisions, like criminals/ex-convicts. Ex-convicts are treated as dirt of society and the people they did wrong got their justice, so why do we treat them like they’re still criminals? To me it looks like they need their justice now.

Criminals get a bad rep, and I think everyone can agree with me mainly because of the things they have done which got them the criminal titles in the first place. But the way they are treated is almost more criminal than they ever were. Denied jobs, the right to vote and a home are just a few of examples on what’s now seems almost impossible to get if you’re an ex-convict. When ex-convicts first leave the prison they have so much to think about and do to reintegrate into society. They may have trouble first trying to find a place to live because certain neighborhoods will not let ex-convicts in, but that’s not the case most of the time. But you do need money for a house so they need a job, but that’s even harder due to all the background checks that most companies solely rely on when hiring potential employers. The background checks can be very prejudice depending on what felony you were charged for, which is why just over 60 - 75% of ex-convicts are unemployed. “Even your lower-paying fast-food jobs are now doing background checks. how can I pay child support if I can’t get a job?” said Michael Mirsky with charge of only resisting arrest.

Michael Mirsky in his New Jersey home that he bought in better days article link

The only way I think people can understand how these ex-convicts/felons feel trying to reintegrate into society is just being homeless and denied of most services and looked down upon from other members of society. Which brings me into something else, ex-convicts are treated as if they are serial killers with moms hiding their kids from them and people avoiding conversation, they treat/see them as if they’re a thug and they still need to be in jail and it’s sad. They served their time, they spent years of their life in jail because of their “wrong doings” and they learned from their mistakes  and now they are back out trying hard to make up for what they did. The sad truth is that pretty much all ex-convicts are stereotyped in this negative way and are never given chances to even spread their knowledge of what to do and not to do to this generation, because so many people are arrogant nowadays and if atleast one person I described in this essay just sat down with some kids for 5 minutes and gave some wisdom, those kids may see the world differently than they did before.

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There are many different ways we can do to help try and heal this country/society an I feel if we see criminals in a different light than they’re in now it would help a lot. They’re not crazy psychopaths they’re real people who know what they’ve done and have learned from it and are better people because of it. A lifetime ago they were once criminals, but now they aren’t. Please remember that.