Back home in Sweden, records are automatically sealed after two years (if my memory serves me correctly).
Back home in Sweden, records are automatically sealed after two years (if my memory serves me correctly).
People are in prison or "juvie" because they got caught with drugs, ran away (juvenile, although being perceived to run away from the police can land you in jail as an adult too), were caught outside while a crime happened "nearby", helped another kid run away, ...
Violent or fatal crimes are very rare. Not 10%. And even from those, the big category of "violence" is breaking and entering.
I feel like while these statistics differ from state to state, everywhere reality is very different from what people think it is.
Blanket no-hire policies for felons are discriminatory because minorities are disproportionally and more harshly sentenced in the US. While you might feel justified in discriminating against a person with a felony record, you have a non-trivial probability of judging them on the racist workings of a corrupt and broken system that preys on vulnerable populations.
Fewer than 1% of cases in the US go to trial. Instead, people are forced to plead to charges instead of letting the evidence speak for itself. An innocent person who doesn't think they can afford to fight a felony charge in court might choose to take a prosecutor's plea deal to go to prison for a month instead of the mandatory minimum of 5 years. It's utterly barbaric.
Also in America, states are given the freedom to create (some) of their own laws. So one state might be okay sealing records after 2 years, another state might prefer to wait 10 years. IMO this is superior to a "one size fits all" approach.