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Should people be given a second chance?

Should people be given a second chance?


  • Total voters
    12

Kal'Stang

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This idea was pulled from the poll about Vick and the Eagles. But is meant to be more in general.

Should people that have committed a felony crime be forgiven with full rights restored and record expunged and sealed once a certain amount of time has passed since their conviction?

Now I realize that this would naturally depend on what type of crime they committed. So what I am going to do is have a multiple choice poll. I want you to vote for the ones that you think should be forgiven after a certain amount of time. I'll say 15 years after their debt to society has been paid. This poll will assume that the person has committed no other crime in that 15 year period and has been fully reformed.
 
This idea was pulled from the poll about Vick and the Eagles. But is meant to be more in general.

Should people that have committed a felony crime be forgiven with full rights restored and record expunged and sealed once a certain amount of time has passed since their conviction?

Now I realize that this would naturally depend on what type of crime they committed. So what I am going to do is have a multiple choice poll. I want you to vote for the ones that you think should be forgiven after a certain amount of time. I'll say 15 years after their debt to society has been paid. This poll will assume that the person has committed no other crime in that 15 year period and has been fully reformed.

I choose unsure.

I believe, technically, that they are to be forgiven once they have served their prison/probation/fines sentence.

After which i believe that they should be given a chance to make a turn around and if they do they should have full rights restored.

As it is, having a felony on your record can pretty much ruin you forever and you eventually turn back to a life of crime because that may be the only way.
No one is really politically interested in solving crime problems because harsh punishments are better for election results.
 
i voted never forgive because i believe people are most idealistic at a young age.

if you're a scumbag at 30 you will be an even bigger scumbag at 40.

i never met a person who was a piece of **** and then just magically stopped being one.

on my website i wrote that "forgiveness is a form of stupidity"
 
People should be forgiven and given a second chance the second their sentence is up.

If they're not going to be given a second chance, why release them at all? Better yet, if they're not going to be given a second chance, why not just put a bullet in them on the spot? There's no sense in spending so much money on prisons and corrective programs if we're just going to assume that they're still criminals once we've deemed them fit to release back into society.
 
People should be forgiven and given a second chance the second their sentence is up.

If they're not going to be given a second chance, why release them at all? Better yet, if they're not going to be given a second chance, why not just put a bullet in them on the spot? There's no sense in spending so much money on prisons and corrective programs if we're just going to assume that they're still criminals once we've deemed them fit to release back into society.

Very logical.
 
SOME people are permanent scumbags, and most of them occupy our prisons, or hold political office...:2razz:

Self centered people are more likely to be sociopaths, and that kind seldom matures to the point of having empathy for others.

In my many years, I have met several people, usually men, who think that the world should revolve around THEIR wants and needs. Usually, this is a man who is far too good looking for his own good. I don't have to worry about that myself...:lol:
 
Premeditated murder, forcible rape, burglary or robbery where any person was injured, sexual molestation of a child under 13, kidnapping a minor, any kidnapping where someone was injured or ransom was demanded, carjacking with a weapon, attempted murder or aggravated assault on a small child/elderly person/disabled person, and probably a few more that I'd think of = never get out of prison, therefore no second chance.

Otherwise, when you've served your time you are fully restored to society with all rights and etc. If you go 10 years without being convicted of any other crime, your record is expunged.

OH, to the list above add: "criminal malfeasance of office of any elected or appointed gov't official". :mrgreen:
 
I believe it is to broad of a question. There are criminals that have commited the worst of crimes that are truely remorseful and changed men/women. Some of these could be released and never commit another crime and be productive to society their entire lives. There are many that never change and would continue their behaviour.

The difficulty is knowing which a criminal might be. We will leave reformed criminals in prison to serve the rest of their lives in prison at the same time we release those that havent changed. I do not believe there is a solution that would be fair to all.
 
I believe in giving people a second chance. I see a problem when they get a third, fourth and fifth chance and still manage to **** it up.
 
When it comes to felonies and felons, it's very hard to get a second chance, otherwise your right.

Hey, I'm all for giving just about any criminal a second chance not to be a total **** up his whole life. However, after they've blown it for the third, or fourth time, it's obvious that they'll never conform to societal norms and should be exterminated.
 
I believe in giving people a second chance. I see a problem when they get a third, fourth and fifth chance and still manage to **** it up.

Absolutely. As much as I push for "forgiveness" and restoration of rights for ex-convicts, I am in 100% support of "three strikes" laws. My only complaint is that the third strike is mandatory life-without-parole, when I am completely morally opposed to the practice of life-without-parole. The penalty for the third strike should be death.
 
Absolutely. As much as I push for "forgiveness" and restoration of rights for ex-convicts, I am in 100% support of "three strikes" laws. My only complaint is that the third strike is mandatory life-without-parole, when I am completely morally opposed to the practice of life-without-parole. The penalty for the third strike should be death.

I agree 100%
 
I believe it is to broad of a question. There are criminals that have commited the worst of crimes that are truely remorseful and changed men/women. Some of these could be released and never commit another crime and be productive to society their entire lives. There are many that never change and would continue their behaviour.

The difficulty is knowing which a criminal might be. We will leave reformed criminals in prison to serve the rest of their lives in prison at the same time we release those that havent changed. I do not believe there is a solution that would be fair to all.

Which is why I added in the 15 year period. I would think that anyone that can live those 15 years without reverting has truely changed for the simple fact that it is so hard to get a job that will support you and where applicable your family when you have a felony record. I believe that it is because of that that the recidivism rate is so high.
 
One of the issues I have with the way we do things is best summed up thus:

I was on duty in court. A bail hearing was in progress. The perp in question had been arrested for some felony (burglary, I think) about six months prior, and had gotten out on bail.

He had then been arrested for assault, and gotten out on bail.
...then arrested for carjacking, and got out on bail...
...then for assault with a deadly weapon, and got out on bail...
...then for petty larceny, and got out on bail...
...then for attempted murder, and got out on bail...
...then most recently for something else, I forget what...

AND HIS ATTORNEY WAS TRYING TO CONVINCE THE JUDGE NOT TO DENY HIM BOND!!! :shock:

He had not yet been tried for the first crime and was now on his SEVENTH bond hearing for his SIXTH offense SINCE the first one that he hadn't been tried for yet.

This is just wrong. People who prove themselves a threat to society in such a decisive fashion need to be locked up and not allowed out to do more harm.
 
Committing another crime while out on bond awaiting trial should be instant death penalty-- if you can't control yourself for a couple of months when you are already in serious trouble, there's little point in trying to rehabilitate you.

Especially if the other crime is similar to the first.

I can't help but think of that woman who caused an accident with multiple fatalities while texting on her cell phone-- after several tickets and while waiting for a court appearance.
 
This idea was pulled from the poll about Vick and the Eagles. But is meant to be more in general.

Should people that have committed a felony crime be forgiven with full rights restored and record expunged and sealed once a certain amount of time has passed since their conviction?

Now I realize that this would naturally depend on what type of crime they committed. So what I am going to do is have a multiple choice poll. I want you to vote for the ones that you think should be forgiven after a certain amount of time. I'll say 15 years after their debt to society has been paid. This poll will assume that the person has committed no other crime in that 15 year period and has been fully reformed.

For non-violent crimes: Rights restored, sure, record expunged, never.
 
For non-violent crimes: Rights restored, sure, record expunged, never.

Why? It is because of records that people that have served their time and have reformed cannot get a good decent paying job. It is often that hardship that brings people back to a life of crime.
 
Committing another crime while out on bond awaiting trial should be instant death penalty-- if you can't control yourself for a couple of months when you are already in serious trouble, there's little point in trying to rehabilitate you..

I was thinking of forced labor or some such, to avoid the death penalty. But enforcing such would be difficult, I would think.

However, I see potential for misuse of a "mess up too much and we kill you" law.
Especially if the other crime is similar to the first.

I can't help but think of that woman who caused an accident with multiple fatalities while texting on her cell phone-- after several tickets and while waiting for a court appearance.

I would think removal of driver’s license and the like would assist in this. Although it would seem that, if someone was dumb enough, they would just keep driving anyway.

In the case of texting, perhaps an adaptation of the breath testing device some persons with drunk driving convictions get? A device that blocks cell-phone text messages in a car-wide area?
:mrgreen:
 
Why? It is because of records that people that have served their time and have reformed cannot get a good decent paying job. It is often that hardship that brings people back to a life of crime.

The places that bother to run a criminal background need to know if you have in fact committed crimes.

Crime has lasting consequences, so obey the law.
 
The places that bother to run a criminal background need to know if you have in fact committed crimes.

Crime has lasting consequences, so obey the law.

What about if you at some point do something stupid, and never anything afterwards? Should that one stupid act be a unrepairable blot on the rest of your life?
 
What about if you at some point do something stupid, and afterwards do nothing again? Should that one stupid act be a unrepairable blot on the rest of your life?

Yup.

Look at the list....burglary...grand theft...yeah those blots should never go away.
 
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Yup.

Look at the list....burglary...grand theft...yeah those blots should never go away.

So, you are saying an obviously pre-planned violation of the laws should not be removed.
 
So, you are saying an obviously pre-planned violation of the laws should not be removed.

Look at the list again...murder...kidnapping...rape..."oops, my bad" doesn't cut it. Those crimes should follow you for the rest of your days.

Now if you weren't paying attention in a parking lot and you accidentally struck a child, killing them, well that's not pre-planned so that's a different story altogether.

In that case your record should be expunged as soon as the child runs back from the graveyard and clicks the "resurrect" button.
 
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Look at the list again...murder...kidnapping...rape..."oops, my bad" doesn't cut it. Those crimes should follow you for the rest of your days.

Now if you weren't paying attention in a parking lot and you accidentally struck a child, killing them, well that's pre-planned so that's a different story altogether.

In that case your record should be expunged as soon as the child resurrects.

I suppose I am trying to say that if, once in your life, you are a stupid moron and something illegal is done by you because of your stupidity, should you be marked for life as a criminal?

I was not limiting it to the crimes listed on the poll.
 
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