Hacker News Reader

Comment by seisvelas | Hacker News Reader

I think he's suggesting they went to prison and were released, and he'd like to be able to access someone's criminal record before hiring them as a babysitter.

View on HN

I understand that, yes. But is the implication that they were released incorrectly?

There's nothing that makes murder specifically relevant to babysitting. If the implication is they wouldn't be hired, that implication applies to every job. So they'd be unhireable. Which in practice is more or less the same as "they should still be in prison".

I personally think that no murderer should ever be released from prison, no matter how rehabilitated. However, given that this is not policy, I would rather have released murderers working in the oil fields or sawmills, or anywhere very far from me, not in my home with my fucking kid.

So then would you agree that when it comes to people that should have been released, you don't need to know what their past crimes were? At least when they're not specifically relevant to the job?

So, say a guy learns that a man has been repeatedly beating his child. Then takes his car, and runs over the man, killing him.

Should this person not be allowed to work with children?

Saying someone shouldn't be a babysitter is a long way from saying they should still be in prison, or even from saying they're unhireable. Different jobs require different kinds and degrees of trust - it isn't that black and white.

> If the implication is they wouldn't be hired, that implication applies to every job.

Unhirable for one, high trust job doesn't mean unhirable for every job. For example, I don't care if a sex offender washes my dishes at a restaurant, but I wouldn't want them teaching my preschoolers.

Thanks, sometimes I feel like I stumbled onto Mars.

A babysitting job isn't very demanding, or we wouldn't have so many teenagers doing it. If someone seems to be qualified, then they probably are. If you're okay with hiring a murderer in general, I don't think they're notably less likely to babysit correctly. Let me know if I'm wrong here? (If you're not okay with hiring a murderer in general, then ignore this comment.)

For a sex offender, it depends on what kind. For example, a former prostitute is no less qualified than anyone else. But sure, some kinds are relevant, and should disqualify people from a narrow slice of jobs.

The problem is when people have supposedly served their time but can't get 95% of jobs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com