Criminal Records and Finding Jobs: Is it Fair that Felonies Carry a Lifetime Stigma?

I was thinking about the recent Michael Vick dog-fighting case and the debate on whether or not he should be allowed to return to football after he gets out of jail. Now, I personally detest dog fighting and think Vick should be punished the fullest extent of the law. However, I can't honestly say that if he's punished and serves his time that it should impair his ability to legally earn a living. After all, isn't the goal of imprisonment for the offender to pay their debt to society and then be released as a useful, "model" citizen?

Well, how can they do that if they can't earn a decent living? In the post-911 world, almost every Human Resources department does background checks. It's not just the large corporations like Wawa; a lot of smaller companies and even temporary employment agencies do criminal background checks as well. And, believe me, if you check YES next to that little box on the application that says "previous criminal record"; there's a good chance you won't even have the courtesy of being called in for an interview. And, if you do get past that first interview, very few employers will ever directly tell you that you didn't get the job because of your criminal background. Most likely once they find out about your criminal background, they just never call you back or they'll make up another bogus excuse why they can't hire you even if you impressed them considerably in your interview.

This isn't a matter of supposition, it's a fact and I've seen it happen many times. I have a friend who was convicted of prescription drug fraud about 7 years ago - a non-violent crime - and also had some prior non-violent drug offenses years before that. He, admittedly, was a drug addict, but he never sold drugs or committed any violent crimes. However, because of the number of fraudulent prescriptions he wrote, he received multiple felony charges. He spent two years in prison, nearly a year in rehab, and has been sober for four years now. He was fortunate enough after he was released to be re-employed by a company he'd worked for years before, but now that company is having severe financial problems and laying off employees on a semi-regular basis. His job could be cut any day now.

In the past four years, he's been on dozens of interviews and been hired for at least four different positions. But, the interview process was either cut short immediately or the offer of employment was rescinded once the employer found out about his criminal background; even in cases where he was completely upfront and honest about his circumstances from the very beginning. Keep in mind this is a man with a bachelor's degree in science, over twenty-five years of work experience, and who once traveled the world working for some of the top employers in his field. But, because of his past, now he can't even get a job as a convenience store clerk.

Is this the way the law should work? Call me naive, but I was always under the impression that once you paid your debt to society and were rehabilitated (both criminally and from substance abuse) that you should have a fair chance to pick up the pieces of your life and put them together again. That is simply not the way it works now though. Now you pay your debt, conquer your drug problem, and come out into a world where you're shunned by most employers and find yourself only able to get menial paying jobs at best. It's no surprise that a large number of criminals released from prison end up eventually going back to jail. If they have very little chance of getting a good job with that pays decent livable wage, despite how hard they work to get a degree, training, etc., what other choice do they have but to go back to committing crimes to earn a living?