San Francisco Considers Legal Protection for Criminals - FoxNews.com
A legislative proposal in San Francisco seeks to make ex-cons and felons a protected class, along with existing categories of residents like African-Americans, people with disabilities and pregnant women. If passed by city supervisors, landlords and employers would be prohibited from asking applicants about their criminal past.
Supporters say it's an effort to help former offenders get back on their feet, but critics call the concept a crime in itself.
"My mother is an immigrant, my mother-in-law is a Jew and I'm a gay man. Those are all protected categories, but you're going to put a felon in there as a protected category? That's not right," said Andrew Long, a board member of the San Francisco Apartment Association.
But ex-cons contend they're immediately disqualified by employers and landlords reluctant to trust anyone with a rap sheet.
Read more: San Francisco Considers Legal Protection for Criminals - FoxNews.com
They can always look it up online. Why even ask?
I think it depends on the nature of the offense and how long ago it was. If you're applying for a job at a bank, your potential employer certainly has the right to know if you've ever been convicted of embezzlement. If you're trying to get an apartment, I'm sure the landlord would like to know if you've ever been convicted of rape.
But there are plenty of other things that they SHOULD be banned from asking about. If a 40-year-old got a DUI when they were 18, is it really necessary for a potential employer to know about it? IMO this is one of the problems with our legal system...a criminal record can haunt people for the rest of their lives and sometimes they are never really able to overcome it and start over.
Where can you look it up online?
Is there public access to police files?
I think if an applicant says exactly that, "I got a DUI 22 years ago", I don't think anybody would hold that against them.
Then they shouldn't mind about not being able to ask.
Where can you look it up online?
Is there public access to police files?
If the employeer doesn't ask, they won't know the truth.
Maybe a time limit on criminal convictions is needed.
Maybe within the last 10 years.
I helped my son in law get a job where I work. He had a conviction for assault when he was like 19. (got into a fight). He asked me if this would bar him. I told him to be up front and tell the truth. He did. They told him that by being honest and it being years ago, it would mean nothing.
If he had lied and they found out he would have never been hired. So the question can be used for many reasons.
I helped my son in law get a job where I work. He had a conviction for assault when he was like 19. (got into a fight). He asked me if this would bar him. I told him to be up front and tell the truth. He did. They told him that by being honest and it being years ago, it would mean nothing.
If he had lied and they found out he would have never been hired. So the question can be used for many reasons.
Not all employers are that nice. In fact I would say that 90%-95% of them are not. Yes its a number pulled outta my buttocks. But then I have experiance in this area.
A better way to do things is to expunge, the public record, provided that they are well behaved after release, say for 5 years.
It would have to be an automatic thing. You can get your record expunged now, but the problem is that most that have commited a crime don't know this or do know it but just don't have the money to do so.
BTW just having your record expunged doesn't do enough. All that it does is make it to where when someone looks up your record all that they see is that you were arrested for it but instead of showing a guilty verdict it shows that you weren't in a vague way. In order for you to be completely free of it you also have to get your record sealed. Each process can take a minimum of 6 months to accomplish and a minimum of $1500 for each process. And even then after having gone through all of this the full records are still available to all federal agencies.
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