Background and credit checks are intentional systems of race and class based segregation (employment, legal)
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I have a gross misdemeanor conviction from 4 years ago. I've had numerous job offers and apartments fall through because of it.
Credit checks too are becoming more and more common for housing and employment. So basically if you have bad credit we don't want to help you try to get out if it. And if you have any kind of criminal conviction oh we also don't want to help you in any way put that behind you.
So you end up with a system that keeps people down essentially, forcing them to take ****ty jobs if they can even get that, and live in a ****ty neighborhood with a ****ty landlord. Or worse, be jobless and homeless.
You can of course luck out on both the job and housing front but you're entirely dependent on someone giving you a chance. For a society that is supposed to pride itself on individual upward mobility, it seems odd that we put the fate of millions essentially into the generous hands of someone else who has to "give them a chance."
I feel like if someone has paid their dues for their crimes and are a free person, no one should be able to hold their past against them, as it will just keep people stuck with their past instead of allowing them to move forward.
On the credit front, I understand a low credit score can be a good predictor, but if someone can show you their income and have a good rental history and references, I don't see why a credit score should prevent someone from getting housing, and especially a job, as they need that job to improve their credit.
Background is treated as an automatic exclusionary force unless you find someone who is understanding. It shouldn't be that way.
I honestly think these systems already are essentially a social credit system in the US, with the result of extreme economic segregation that often falls along racial lines. I can't even imagine being a black person with a felony on their record.
Welcome to C-D, Trishim. A decent background check would have meant Nicholas Cruz could not get a gun legally.
Yep. Can't have it both ways. We either have comprehensive background/credit checks for gun purchases, employment, rental housing, etc., or we don't. The entire underlying foundation is personal responsibility. Those who have been responsible will always have an advantage over those who haven't been responsible.
The problem with BG checks is that they hold a person to their crime, long after their debt to society has been paid in full. That goes totally against what the US system of justice was designed to be.
Im not surprised so many people support them though, for some reason, its popular to give up freedom for the sake of safety or security, I really blame the growing police state and prisons mostly, its in their benefit to ensure someone that has been convicted of a crime, remains a criminal for life, what better way to achieve that than to restrict ones ability to even get a decent job? Its the perfect tool and is very effective.
The problem with BG checks is that they hold a person to their crime, long after their debt to society has been paid in full. That goes totally against what the US system of justice was designed to be.
Not at all. It's a true representative of how responsible or irresponsible one has chosen to be in one's life.
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Im not surprised so many people support them though, for some reason, its popular to give up freedom for the sake of safety or security, I really blame the growing police state and prisons mostly, its in their benefit to ensure someone that has been convicted of a crime, remains a criminal for life, what better way to achieve that than to restrict ones ability to even get a decent job? Its the perfect tool and is very effective.
Why shouldn't we be able to consider others' character before agreeing to associate with them and/or enter into a legal arrangement with them? Isn't that what MLK fought so hard for? To only judge others by the content of their character?
The state doesnt have any right to tell individuals who they must admit into their homes or where they must work, nor should tell landlords or employers who they must rent to or hire.
Having said that, the drug war has made criminals out of people for using substances unapproved by the state and should be ended.
Not at all. It's a true representative of how responsible or irresponsible one has chosen to be in one's life.
Why shouldn't we be able to consider others' character before agreeing to associate with them and/or enter into a legal arrangement with them? Isn't that what MLK fought so hard for? To only judge others by the content of their character?
When you look at the headline, it seems we had LESS problems before the days of nearly every employer doing pre-employment BG checks, how does that make any sense?
I know this for a fact actually, the company I work for does extensive pre-employment BG checks, but at the same time, we have more problems with employee theft today, than the days before BG checks were done. (1980s and 90s).
Its also not entirely representative of a persons character, an 18yr old that is convicted of something, will still have to answer for that when he applies for a job in his 50s or 60s. People are entitled to second chances, (no matter what their crime was).
The problem with BG checks is that they hold a person to their crime, long after their debt to society has been paid in full. That goes totally against what the US system of justice was designed to be.
You can get your record expunged, correct?
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