One incentive to not commit crime: consequences. One serious consequence to consider: a felony just might f*** up your chances in the future. What's so wrong with that idea? It seems our society is moving further and further away from the idea that there ARE consequences to our actions. It scares me. We are all up in arms that all these greedy Wall Street folks aren't paying the consequences for their crimes. They should be, and so should anyone else who screws over others.

So do we REALLY want to make it against the wall for an employer to be able to ASK if an applicant has a felony? Seems we should think this through a little more thoroughly. Hiring someone is like entering a relationship with that person. Any employer, small businesses/home businesses/family businesses included, should have the right to know the risks they take with ANY potential employee. An employer can then decide if he/she/they is willing to take that risk. I'm all for rehabilitation, and yes the prison system is a profit-making industry. But is this the answer? And I agree with John P. Jones. Repeat offenders, anyone? Do we want it to be illegal for, say, King County schools to ask if an applicant has a felony? Or what about our daycares, and senior homes?

Ooops...against the LAW (not wall)

$150 incentive to hire an ex-con. Wow. That's like, 20 packs of cigarettes, man. Good luck with that kind of incentive.

This is the age of Mass Incarceration in the United States, which imprisons more of its citizens BY FAR than any other country in the world. That means that a convicted person's "debt to society" is effectively never paid, since s/he will always find barriers to resuming normal life. And most of these people committed nonviolent crimes that should really be vacated after a suitable waiting period. The fact that we don't do that is a reflection of our vindictive and stratified society.