Prospective Job Applicants Should Not Be Asked To Reveal Prior Criminal Convictions

Prospective Job Applicants Should Not be Asked to Reveal Prior Criminal Convictions Criminal Conviction = the judgement of a jury or judge that a person is guilty of crime as charged. Prospective Job Applicants = people applying for a job Prior = Before an event Proposition Hello judge. Imagine this. A poor man is starving. He robs a store to help his family survive, and he is arrested. Later, he gets out of prison, and applies for a job so that he can be a better person and feed his family without breaking the law. However, when he applies for a job, he is discriminated against due to his criminal record, and he is left homeless and jobless again. Later, with his family in poverty again, he returns to robbing stores and is arrested again. Not only are we using tax money to pay for his stay in prison, but his family is left alone, without food, money, or shelter, and vulnerable. If we make job applicants reveal their prior criminal convictions, this will happen a lot more often. My first point is that crimes are just mistakes, and everybody deserves a second chance. Judge, do you remember when you were little, getting into trouble, and your parents grounding you, or taking away a toy? And then maybe you didn"t do that particular thing again, because you realized the consequences. Crime is just like that. A mistake, made by a foolish person, and chances are they weren"t do it again. According to the New York Times, less than half of criminals are arrested again. This shows that the majority of them do learn from their mistakes. Also, if you don"t get a second chance, how are you expected to learn. You just sit their, miserable for the rest of your life? Imagine that. Once you commit a crime, and then you can"t make any more of your life. Even if people make an awful mistake, wouldn"t you like to know that everyone gets the chance to live their life to the fullest without having to be perfect? Also according to the Department of Justice, did you know that when you reveal an offense it can be something so minor as a traffic infraction, or a recurrent parking violation? That means that if you get more than 3 tickets in a year, you could be classified as an offender of the law, and it could prevent you from getting a job. Judge, do you realize what this action can do to people? People who have never even been arrested are not getting jobs. People who are just bad drivers can end up in poverty! As you can see, we should ban this action. My second point is that not getting a job can lead to reoffense. According to the Los Angeles Times, although most criminals do not get arrested more than once, more than 75% of two time offenders do not have a job. That"s right, if criminals cannot get a job, there"s a high chance that they will commit another crime. By forcing people to reveal prior criminal convictions, we are giving them less of a chance to get a job, which can leave them with only one option. To commit a crime. You know what"s sad? It"s so hard to find a job, that many people are committing crimes because that lifestyle is better than the one at home. Also, according to the Economist, California has roughly 3500 juvenile prisoners, who are there simply for truancy and running away from home. This will make it nearly impossible to get a job when they are young, and, since it is more likely that people start committing crimes when they are younger versus older, those kids will spend more time in prison than adults, and will probably never get a good job. My third and final point is that disregarding applications from criminals is discrimination. According to the New York Times, if you don"t give somebody the job just because of their criminal record, it is classified as discrimination. Also, according to the New York Times, racial discrimination plays a part in this too. Using conviction as a basis for selecting a job applicant as racial discrimination involved, for they state that non-caucasians are almost 6 times more likely to be arrested than others. Thank you, and due to these reasons and many others, the proposition should win this debate.