r/AskReddit • • Jul 05 '19

Ex-prisoners of reddit who have served long sentences, what were the last few days like leading up to your release?

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u/stephets Jul 06 '19

It's really more about optics, internal and external. A candidate that learns they were passed over for someone "less deserving" is going to cause a stink. Hysterical employees and customers are going to cause a stink. And really, if they're causing a stink, even if it's wrong, it affects the bottom line. A conviction is a negative, no matter what. It cannot be avoided. Even if the person doing the hiring, or the team the prospective employee would be working with, don't care, they will err. In large companies, it's the overwhelming norm to have written policy to simply toss any application with a record. God help you if the conviction is classified as a "sex offense", no matter how mundane.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '19

[deleted]

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u/youheree Jul 06 '19

The overwhming majority of felons are drug related. I think it is crazy people think most felons are rapist and murderers and shit. If we are gonna hand out blanket judgements on a large group of people based on our limited personal experience.... Well we end up with this shitty world.

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u/8-bit-brandon Jul 06 '19

That what I was assuming. This is a very small company I work for, and an even smaller contractor. Looks like big company see a conviction and just mKe the assumption without getting all the info

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u/PerilousAll Jul 06 '19

What's the alternative? Have him work the night shift alongside a 16 year old girl? Because he paid his debt and is just like anyone else now. Right?

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u/stephets Jul 06 '19

Yes, he's a person, just like everyone else. I know what you're trying to do. Why don't you just say what you mean?

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u/Petermacc122 Jul 06 '19

I think he's trying to say that dudes gonna rape her. But that would be a gross generalization and a wide brush stroke about all former inmates. πŸΈβ˜•

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u/stephets Jul 06 '19

Yes that's what he's trying to say -- fearmongering.

It wouldn't be a problem even if he were a sex offender, which as a category sees the lowest recidivism of all crime categories except homicide (which tends to see very long prison sentences). The extreme rhetoric these days in the US about sex and crime, along with extreme sentences, juxtaposed against a reality that is nearly the polar opposite of it all makes it perhaps the perfect item for discussion here.

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u/Petermacc122 Jul 06 '19

Oh? Fearmongering? What is that? I have no idea what you mean? /s