Category: brainstorming
Instruction: Provide a list of things a young felon can do when they get out of jail to turn their life around
Response: 1. Move in with family, they are the only ones that actually want the best for you
2. Completely disconnect from your past “friends”, you want them to think you’re dead
3. Get a job right away, a restaurant will be the easiest as they don’t do background checks so yes, lie on the application in this case
4. Go to school, start at a jr college with a plan to transfer to a university, not a bs for profit school but an actual well know university
5. Do not pick a major out of passion….pick a major to get you out of the hole you dug yourself into….anything business related like finance or tech related like data science is a great place to start
6. Get on the honor roll, do whatever it takes, yes, you need to actually read the textbooks
7. Stay on top of your mental health and recovery, seek therapy attend meetings do what you have to do to stay on the right path
8. Avoid all drugs and alcohol to stay focused…especially during your 5 year probation and especially if you have a joint suspension 
9. Accelerate your studies, take 21 units if you can while maintaining straight A’s (this is possible)
10.  Stay as busy as you can, boredom leads to trouble 
11. Apply to transfer to your local university, you can’t leave your town until you’re off probation anyways so might as well stay local
12. When you get in, work even harder, stay on the honor roll and try to get in any honors programs you can
13. Pay all your restitution and recovery in full
14. Probation starts when you’re sentenced at the beginning of serving your time….so if you time this right you can go up for expungement at the same time you will be graduating, so be time conscious 
15. Assuming you are broke and you can’t afford $10 - $15 k for an expungement attorney….start looking into Californian penal code 1203.4. 
16. Go down to the courthouse…get the forms if you haven’t printed them already and ask questions
17. Get all your case information gathered and fill out the forms
18. Get your court date
19. Collect letters of recommendation from any important person you know, business letterhead is nice to have but not everyone will be comfortable having their company vouch for you. Go to professors, bosses, family, “good” friends, mentors etc. These conversations may be difficult, especially if these people don’t know your past…but you have to do this
20. Write a letter to the judge, short but powerful, something that would shed a tear
21. On the day of your expungement hearing…dress your best
22. Invite everyone who will come to support you at your hearing, the more support the more the judge believes you’re not a total POS and you just were a little lost at some point
23. Be humble and respectful on that stand. Show grace and composure.
24. There’s only about 6% of expungement requests that get granted so if the judge gives it to you….be grateful. You may not be able to help dropping to your knees and crying
25. If you don’t get it, listen to what the judge says and try again 
26. Regardless of what happens just know that there is no such thing as luck, you got in this mess from making stupidly ridiculous decisions, and the only way to get out of it is by making extremely smart good decisions.
27. Once you’re expunged….it takes about three months for your record to be expunged from both California and the FBI National database, so hang tight.
28. Start applying for jobs, stay away from schools or anywhere that requires a Livescan. You can pass all background checks but those….and if you end up working for a defense contractor which you totally can….do not ever go for a role that requires a secret or top secret clearance 
29. If you’ve made it this far you've just gotten started, get your masters degree next, and keep going from there, get two or even a Doctorate, there is no limit where you will go 
30. Work as hard as you can day in and day out. Just remember….it took a whole lot more for you to be sitting where you’re at than the person next to you. Value it, appreciate it and always remember where you came from, but never look back