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The "nobody will hire him" comments may just be realistic, as most jobs, even low level jobs, screen out felons. Even jobs one would think are amenable to felons, like oil roughnecks in North Dakota, are now staffed by large agencies who weed out felons. These days it's doubly tough for ex-cons because they are competing with millions of unemployed people who don't have a felon rap sheet.

If he's really interested in tech, one thing he could do is try to get involved with an organization that is religious related, such as making a church website, or helping out with an Access database. This might sound strange since vengance-oriented churches are so popular these days, but the Midwest still has many liberal church organizations into forgiveness and second chances and that sort of thing. In Indiana, I would suggest looking at Quaker oriented organizations, maybe even Earlham College.

Just as an aside, the Quaker church is pretty much awesome. If I were a believer, I'd join the Religious Society of Friends. They're pro-peace and tolerant to a degree that should shame most other Christian churches into trying to be better Christians.

And, you're right that churches can be helpful to folks dealing with situations like this. I've become a lot more tolerant of churches and devout religious folks over the past year or so that I've been interested in and working on homelessness issues.

Most of the churches that need to be shamed into becoming better Christians, are unfortunately, completely immune to being ashamed of anything.

> This might sound strange since vengance-oriented churches are so popular these days, but the Midwest still has many liberal church organizations that are into forgiveness and second chances and that sort of thing. In Indiana, I would suggest looking at Quaker oriented organizations, maybe even Earlham College.

This is a great suggestion.

Yes. I was able to find employment as a felon, even while I was on probation, partially because of becoming a cliche - a "born again Christian". I honestly did find religion (a big surprise to me) but I didn't realize what a benefit that can have for employment. I even ran into some of my senior management at my church (I was there first). It sucks to even hint of that as sort of a scam, but it happens all the time. Or maybe just check out some churches and truthfully find something. Evangelical Christians tend to love stories of guys that have made mistakes and have turned their lives around.

> We have a culture of revenge and shaming, rather than healing and allowing reparations.

I think you're spot-on. Revenge and shaming is a part of healing, of course, because it helps the community: 1) vent its frustration at a lawbreaker; 2) send a signal that such actions won't be tolerated. But we've gone from a "healthy amount of revenge" (so to speak) to such extreme punishments that reintegration becomes nearly impossible. To the community, someone who get 18 years for a crime must be a truly irredeemable person, right? To the imprisoned, a society that punishes him so harshly cannot be something that will welcome him back, right?

Prison sentences keep going up because recidivism is high, and the amount of crime in the U.S. is dramatically higher than in other western countries. But I think longer prison sentences make both of those things worse. Recidivism might go down if weren't nearly impossible for felons to re-integrate into society.

If I'm hiring for a job, all other things being equal, why choose the felon? It's possible, maybe even likely, that the person was reformed in prison. But if I choose the non-felon, then I don't even have to worry about it.

To be honest, though, it depends a heavily on what the person's crime was. Do I care that a guy got caught with a pound of weed? No. Do I care that he embezzled from his employer? Definitely. A guy who killed his cheating wife isn't a big concern, but I could never trust a guy who "snapped" and assaulted some random person.

>A guy who killed his cheating wife isn't a big concern

You have no problem keeping company with outed sociopaths?

I mean he's unlikely to be a repeat offender.

For that specific offense, sure - who's gonna marry him?

I would argue that someone who murdered his wife because she cheated on him probably has poor impulse control. All other things being equal, I'd give the job to the person who hasn't taken a life.

There's nothing in a typical work environment remotely comparable to a cheating spouse. Assuming they didn't have a string of other convictions, I'd give the person the benefit of the doubt regarding their impulse control. Assuming they're really the best qualified for the job.

That said, I'd also prefer the candidate with equal qualifications and no felony.

I'd argue you haven't got a clue what you are talking about and compensate by resorting to cliched moralizing. Everyone would snap given sufficient provocation, a 'cheating spouse' is very provocative, to call it "poor impulse control" is, at best, sanctimonious.

I'm guessing you are just a child or a troll. When you get older you'll realise all marriages and lives have their ups and downs.

If a 'cheating spouse' is the worse you have to deal with you'll have lived a lucky or short life.

Death of loved ones, marriage break ups, losing jobs is life. Get over it. It happens to all of us, this me, me, me mentality that we live in a hollywood movie and just because theses things happen to us it's a world event gets a bit tiring.

> Everyone would snap given sufficient provocation

Depending on your definition of "snap", this is unsubstantiated opinion, not a fact deserving the assertion you used.

It may be that everyone will "snap" if provoked enough if by "snap" you mean become aggressive, possibly entering into a fight, but even then you'll have to sell me that everyone is susceptible to this.

If you define "snap" as taking of another's life when there is no direct threat to your own (which is usually what we are talking about when discussing the murdering of a spouse), then I think you have a LOT of evidence you need to bring forth.

If by "cliched moralizing" you mean arguing that murdering a spouse is, in fact, immoral, then sure. I'm a cliched idiot.

"But if I choose the non-felon, then I don't even have to worry about it."

Unless the "non-felon" is simply smart enough that he hasn't been caught yet.

Wouldn't some freelancing sites be a good option? If he gets familiar with some basic PHP skills, he could at least get a start with real life coding challenges. People who hire on elance or other freelance sites don't pay much attention to personal details as long as he gets some decent reviews.

I still don't think nonviolent drug crimes are the same as bank robbery. When you commit a bank robbery with a loaded firearm, you're telling society you have no problem taking a person's life for a little money. If people change, why is the recidivism rate for felons over 50%? And those are just the ones who get caught. Again, I'm speaking strictly to violent crimes here. Nonviolent/drug offenders should be treated very differently.

> Why is the recidivism rate for felons over 50%?

Because it's damn near impossible to make an honest living with a felony conviction on your record in the current economy. The mentality of "Why should you get the same as honest men like me" is one that has societal costs, but it is a third rail of politics, as no congressman is going to make an argument for lighter sentencing, or easier integration of felons. In reality, all felony sentences are life sentences, and this is something we need to fix.

I think there's a big difference between killing someone and threatening to do so. Though I also think it's entirely possible to kill someone and regret it and not do it again.

I think recidivism is high due to ridiculously long sentences, as well as the fact that our prisons are brutal hellholes that leave people much worse off psychologically than when they went in. And of course the fact that no one will give you a job.

if you go into a bank without a gun, imply you have a gun, it's bank robbery. you don't need a gun, the gun can be a toy gun, so long as the victim feels you have a real gun, you get charged as if you actually have a real loaded gun.

I don't think most other cultures even have a word for "felon".