SF plan would offer tax break for hiring felons

SF plan would offer tax break for hiring felons

www.sfgate.com

San Francisco businesses that hire people with felony convictions would get a tax break, under legislation expected to be introduced today.

"Ex-felons are among the most challenged populations in getting work,"

The goal is to shave about $10,000 off a business' companywide payroll tax burden for every new convict it hires full time.

(visit the link for the full news article)

double post

It'd be quicker, easier and cheaper if they just locked the felon status away from the public.

What a moronic society to stamp scarlet letters on everyone then take ridiculous measures to ensure those with the letters are capable of living a decent existence.

i agree why even mark a man for life like that in the first place if he pays for his crimes why continue to persecute the poor soul wasnt the prison system showers enough come on.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I agree 100%.

I have a good friend who is a convicted felon. He's a good guy, smart, hard worker, but cannot get a normal job that pays more than minimum wage. He works odd jobs and just barely scrapes by.

His offense was not violent or harmful to other people in any way. He made a mistake, he's a different person now but still paying for it.

I don't think incentives are the answer, but rather, as you mentioned, either hiding their felon status or passing legislation to prevent discrimination based on certain types of felony offenses. While they're at it they can also make discrimination based on credit rating and work history (for example passing up on people who have a gap in employment due to a poor economy) illegal.

reply to post by TinkerHaus


Unfortunately discrimination legislation wont work. As it is now there are numerous discrimination laws regarding age, race, gender, etc... and people are still discriminated against by employers all day long. If I say as an employer some old guy wasnt qualified you have to prove he was. Unless the case is so ridiculously blatant it's pretty much my word against his.

Keeping the felon status locked is the best way to have the cake and eat it too. That way rehabilitation is rehabilitation and if caught for some other offense a judge can see the previous status and sentence with the repeat offense in mind.

Personally, I'd like to see it wiped completely. You do your time and you get a blank slate. After all that's the whole point, right?

The system isnt helping curb recidivism any by putting up all these barriers preventing released prisoners from bettering themselves. It's almost like the state wants them to offend again.

The prison system and the perception of the system is itself one of the biggest problems in our country: stuck somewhere between half-assed "rehabilitation" programs and a self-imposed gang structure that has made prison all the worse for the less violent offenders.

Most people will refuse to accept that a prison sentence is a debt paid to society, citing the recidivism rate as a function of criminals being criminals and rehabilitation not working, rather than the scarlet letter culture that's been raised and flown in the face of the "land of the free".

We first need to decide what to do with the prison system, in my opinion; either accept it as punishment and leave the punishment inside the fences or fix everything that's wrong with it.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I agree with you in principal but I can see complications with this route as well.

Some convictions should be prevented from working in certain fields. For example, if someone was convicted of identify theft, opening accounts under other people's names and such, they might not be the best candidate to work for say, Discover Card's customer service center. Same goes for perpetrators of sexual crimes - they shouldn't work with or around kids.

Perhaps your idea would work well by allowing only certain types of crimes to be completely sealed. Another solution would be to create an agency that acted as a middle man between employers and employees - where they would make the determination whether or not the nature of the felon's crimes should prevent them from working in that particular position. Of course EVERY applicant would have to go through this process, felon or otherwise, so that no one was exposed.


And yeah, there is no such thing as "rehabilitation" in our prison systems. It's punishment and human warehousing. I agree that the entire system should be reviewed.

The United States thrives on inmates already!

WORLDWIDE PRISON STATS PDF

Which is the next highest on that list?

Do you see the US?

How do you feel about this?

reply to post by dolphinfan


Anyone else getting the urge to just give california back to Mexico? Maybe we could just slice San Francisco off and ship it down to baha.

This sets a dangerous precedent, or quite possibly a means of survival, for politicians. Most are felons anyways, maybe this is their way of a nice retirement check?

The left coast needs to fix the bad case of rectal-cranial inversion they have going on.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
reply to post by TinkerHaus

 

Unfortunately discrimination legislation wont work. As it is now there are numerous discrimination laws regarding age, race, gender, etc... and people are still discriminated against by employers all day long. If I say as an employer some old guy wasnt qualified you have to prove he was. Unless the case is so ridiculously blatant it's pretty much my word against his.

Keeping the felon status locked is the best way to have the cake and eat it too. That way rehabilitation is rehabilitation and if caught for some other offense a judge can see the previous status and sentence with the repeat offense in mind.

Personally, I'd like to see it wiped completely. You do your time and you get a blank slate. After all that's the whole
point, right?

Well said.
Line 2 . . . well said.

The system isnt helping curb recidivism any by putting up all these barriers preventing released prisoners from bettering themselves. It's almost like the state wants them to offend again.

edit on 19-10-2011 by thisguyrighthere because: (no reason given)

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

Personally, I'd like to see it wiped completely. You do your time and you get a blank slate. After all that's the whole point, right?

The system isnt helping curb recidivism any by putting up all these barriers preventing released prisoners from bettering themselves. It's almost like the state wants them to offend again.

There shouldn't be such unfettered acces to credit and NCIS info.

Potential employers and insurers do not need to know any of this info unless there are special requirements for your employemt, such as handling other's property, and even then, only after showing "good cause" and lack of access from any other means.

The relevant time for disclosure should be tied to the penalties assessed: if you got 2-years' probation, your record is off limits after 2 years, et c

jw.