A DUI kept me from an accounting position at a law firm.

This is such an important issue. One resource for people facing these sorts of barriers is the ACLU's Criminal Records Project --www.aclu-wa.org/criminalrecords

This is such an important issue. One resource for people being denied employment or housing on account of criminal history is the ACLU of Washington's Criminal Records Project. www.aclu-wa.org/criminalrecords

@1,
If by "head start" you mean they're getting preferential treatment, they're not. They're simply treated like everyone else, no better, no worse.

I agree with the thrust of Harrell's idea, and it's sad that we are basically abandoning people once they enter the criminal justice system. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to draconian hiring practices.

For instance, many employers now perform credit checks for all prospective employees, even those working in jobs which don't involve money. This basically ghetto-izes people who have had financial troubles in the past, preventing them from getting the very jobs that would pull them out of financial ruin. Will Harrell go after that practice as well?

Probably not, I'd guess. This is a nice start, at least.

So good to hear! I hope this goes through.

Oh hi, Sugartit! Not getting the attention you crave from one post, so you decide to post some more? Well here you are sweetie, look at me acknowledging you. Such a cute little boy, all grown up and posting comments by himself.

Harrell obviously doesn't know much employment law. Just as when employers didn't want to hire women, or gays, or non-whites, there are always several reasons they can turn down applicants. For an applicant to bring a charge against a prospective employer for disobeying this ordinance, there's the "but for" rule: you must prove that but for your criminal record, the employer would have hired you. All the employer needs to do is find another reason why the hire wasn't possible.

The proposed exception if the convict's record is a business threat seems slightly problematic - ever hear of "plea bargain"? Creating a protected class, criminals, kinda smells of good intentions turned to awful social engineering.

Sugartit, you ignorant slut.

Forced to hire convicts? Try actually reading the article. Nobody is forced to do anything.

They'll be "forced" to hire convicts just like you'll be "forced" to get gay married. Thanks for playing though.

Note to any Christians opposing this legislation...hiring ex-convicts IS "What Jesus Would Do". He called some of them "Apostles", IIRC.

Excellent. Let's hold true to the premise that once punishment is meted out and the person seves their time, they get a fresh start. When this doesn't happen, the desperation that results from not being allowed to function as a productive member of society leads to actions that create repeat offenders.

So after this bill is passed, let's move on to one that ends the practice of performing credit checks on prospective employees. A credit report is more often than not a snapshot of the aftermath of events that said report doesn't even hint at--and not a reflection of how that person might perform on the job.

That's a great idea. All credit checks do is cheat people out of work for going into debt...since it's virtually impossible to go through ANY significant period of unemployment WITHOUT going into debt, credit checks simply another way to blacklist the jobless from any chance of GETTING a job.

No one should ever be punished or stigmatized simply for being unemployed...especially since, in this day and age, most people who are out of work are out of work because some rich bastard decided to make himself quickly and unjustly richer by imposing mass layoffs.

Oh, and sugartit, you know perfectly well this bill won't force anybody to hire a rapist...since it doesn't FORCE anybody to hire anyone.

It's pretty much going to be about "three strikes" felons, most of whom are only felons because they sold a handful of joints to a handful of narcs.

Stop with the rapist shit already.

Good for Harrell. By sponsoring this legislation, and he's being really helpful in letting other dems know that he plans on never getting elected to a higher office.

ha, funny how all the people posting comments against the legislation either didn't read the article or have zero reading comprehension.

The legislation would not give advantages or protections to people with records, nor would anyone be forced to hired anyone.

Post-conviction hiring is a huge problem, and not being able to find employment is one of the biggest factors that leads to reoffense, in a combination of financial motivation (if there is one) and the fact that the person has little to lose if caught.

Btw, "why won't someone think of the children????" ;-) Most of these men and women have families and children to support, and they need jobs to do that.

Hmmmmnnnn, where's the jobs for those of us with just teeny weeny records for smoking medicinal weed, not a crazy ass shoot em up record?

Maybe it's actually fair for people without felony convictions to have a better shot at being seen as trustworthy...

As for the property manager, I think the solution to that quandry is that people's rent payments should be reported to the credit bureaus anyway. Then landlords could just pull a credit report and SEE what their rental history is. There used to be a service for this, but it went away. Win/win for landlords and tenants, who get a better credit rating by being good tenants.

Our current approach to not giving felons (that we produce WAY more then any other country in the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarcerati… ) certain licenses, such as a visa, or professional licenses required in order to legally operate (making many vocations off-limits to felons), rights like serving on a jury, government assistance or welfare, including being barred from federally funded housing, student aid, and other prejudices. What better way to encourage the individual to do better or feel a part of a community/society then to make sure no one will hire you! Then society just blames them as bad people when they start stealing, selling drugs, pimping, and prostituting again. IM BETTER THEN YOU! YOU DESERVE IT! THEY'RE ALL RAPISTS AND MURDERERS! The rhetoric is elitist and destructive as well as the financial costs for society associated with imprisonment, prosecution, and loss of productivity. God bless american but not the felons.

Fuck you, Bruce Harrell. Whose side are you on? The people who do the work and pay the bills in this city, or the thieves and killers who prey on us? There are plenty of hard working, law abiding people who need jobs. They should come first. Not the dirtbags.

If you have a felony on your record, get the fuck out of Seattle and stay out. You are not wanted here, and please tell your dirtbag friends the same. Thank you.

Oh and #27, yes, I am better than you and your friends the pimps, the pushers, and the whores. Fuck them and fuck you.

#25...problem with that is, a lot of the non-convicted are either just better a hiding the evidence or wealthy enough to hire a decent lawyer.

It's not really clear that anybody, these days, is any more inherently trustworthy than anybody else.

Also, it would be fairly easy to write this law to exclude violent criminals. Mostly, the sort of people Harrell is talking about are minor drug offenders...people who wouldn't be felons at all if it weren't for the fascist "three strikes" laws(and who, without those laws and with a full-employment economy, probably wouldn't have spent much time committing even the minor crimes they were convicted of.

28 Hell yeah!! not only are you right about telling them to "get the fuck out of Seattle" but get the fuck out of AMERICA! Land of the free! of course then where do they go? Internment camps and death it is! hell yeah! Probably way better then what we do now with the old scarlet letter around their sub human necks so they can get treated like the trash they are by all of society and hopefully end up killing themselves on drug and alcohol or assisted suicide by cop. That's the community I want HELL YEAH! 28 you should run for city council. I'd vote for you. who wouldn't!

Hell yeah!! not only are you right about telling them to "get the fuck out of Seattle" but get the fuck out of AMERICA! Land of the free! of course then where do they go?

I don't care where they go, as long as you go with them. Then I'll be closer to having the community I want. Hey, here's an idea: Go to Oakland, California. I hear they love the criminals.

Even better, how about moving yourself, your friends, and Bruce Harrell to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea? They definitely have the urban environment you love. Look it up.

Wing Nut or It, I'm a selfish looser too who spends way to much time on the internet watching any type of feet porn i can and blogging about anything, most of which i know nothing about, just to have pretend conversation with half imaginary people because no one want to be around me. BOO HOO just step out of your subsidized housing unit and find your junky neighbor "x-friend" you keep bitching about and give him $20 for ANYTHING and maybe then you'll feel a little better about all the anal rapes/ thefts that were perpetrated on you as a youngster. Then, maybe, you'll at least leave the more civilized in peace.

Projecting again, are you?

If i were projecting I would be say you are a bad ass, big dicked mother fucker, that everyone wants to do or be. Your lonely spats on the internet at 1 and 2 am scream that your attempts to find sexual or emotional stimulation is just sad, especially on a week day where even the most inept tweeked out homeless person can get some. probably where most of your frustration comes from. well that and the memories of being dumped the few times you actually had a "relationship". non the less help is here. find the worst rated massage places on the internet and get a happy ending. you may have to pay extra because you rubbed off some skin on your little manhood but that's just another reason to stay off the internet. Or you could just come to grips that you really just want me or some other awesome dude like me to ride you like the midget pony you are. either way you only have a happier place to go to from here.

Wow, stoompy, you are one angry felon!

Oh wing nut, its really just annoyance/self entertainment for uninteresting elitist assholes like yourself. Either have something interesting / funny to say or get high / fucked. Just maybe for once in your pathetically lonely life contribute something to society and not what a 12 year old would say or say nothing at all.

So stoompy, what did they send you to joint for, anyway? How much time did you do, and were you someone's bitch? You sound mad enough for it, anyway.

last word I WIN

I am an ex-con (convicted of second-degree assault, as well as other charges) who managed to overcome the obstacles and get housing and gainful employment. I had to settle for a crappy apartment and work a crappy job at first, but over time, with effort and planning and sacrifice I worked my way up and out of the ditch. When I got out the hoosegow for the last time in 2006 I swallowed my pride, availed myself of the help offered to me by a good friend and a few social programs, particularly Seattle Jobs Initiative (through which I received free training) and landed a way better job, working for a military contractor where I was trusted with sensitive information and allowed to work on critical fabrications for the US navy. I am now self-employed and about to start school at the age of 46, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering. I cannot emphasize enough it took a lot of patience and I lived and worked in hell for a while. Still, I cannot help but feel that I somehow got lucky; most ex-cons I have known never lived it down. The fact is, though, that unless society is willing to let a person start out fresh after paying their debt to society, we might as well be sentencing everybody to life. There's a reason why we impose lesser sentences than life for most crimes, and yet the consequences of misdeeds or mistakes follow most ex-offenders far longer than their actual sentences.

Councilmember Harrell, thank you for your leadership on this important issue. It costs between $40,000 and $50,000 to keep someone locked up. Give anyone in poverty that kind of salary, and I almost guarantee they'll never commit economic crimes again. Our society seriously needs to take a second look at the way its policies exclude ex-offenders.

Leave the punishments to the courts, and let us live our lives.

C. Eliyah

To comment #44 and Wing it commenter: First, I probably wouldn't like you if I met you. I'm glad I live in a country where that's not a crime. Second, the one thing I have learned is that most people, commenters, opinioners, etc, simply don't know what the hell they are talking about. No real research, no real study, just idiotic vitriol. If you would JUST READ AND PAY ATTENTION to the article, other articles on the subject, and CURRENT LAW you would know that an employer DOES have the right to deny employment for specific types of positions depending upon the criminal offense committed by the felon, you idiot. You can't be convicted of bank robbery and expect to get hired at a bank! (or anywhere handling cash). Can't get a job at a day care center if you are a convicted child molester, etc.. are you getting the picture, idiot? You, like so many other punks in this city are just afraid. Afraid of crime, afraid of most Blacks, afraid of reaching out to people less talented, or well dispositioned as you. Afraid of anyone who is not like you - middle-class, employed, stable, probably White. if you know ANYTHING about politics in the US, you would know that we have always subscribed to the "Might makes right" rule internationally and locally. That means people who have been lucky enough or white enough to avoid any unfortunate circumstances that forced them to commit a crime (and get caught) are usually the ones getting laws and initiaties passed, and spouting off about how bad entitlement programs are, and all this crap about reverse discrimination. Pay ATTENTION here, I'm only going to say it once and I'll keep it simple for your little pea brain: Job = stability = personal responsibility = productive citizen. I'm not a felon, and I'm not defending feloneous behavior, but I'd bet my last buck that given the chances and opportunities you probably had, most felons would not be felons, and you, given the "crap" they probably have endured for their entire lives would have made the same mistakes they did because AT THE CORE, YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THEY ARE...YOU ASSHOLE!

To comment #44 and Wing it commenter: First, I probably wouldn't like you if I met you. I'm glad I live in a country where that's not a crime. Second, the one thing I have learned is that most people, commenters, opinioners, etc, simply don't know what the hell they are talking about. No real research, no real study, just idiotic vitriol. If you would JUST READ AND PAY ATTENTION to the article, other articles on the subject, and CURRENT LAW you would know that an employer DOES have the right to deny employment for specific types of positions depending upon the criminal offense committed by the felon, you idiot. You can't be convicted of bank robbery and expect to get hired at a bank! (or anywhere handling cash). Can't get a job at a day care center if you are a convicted child molester, etc.. are you getting the picture, idiot? You, like so many other punks in this city are just afraid. Afraid of crime, afraid of most Blacks, afraid of reaching out to people less talented, or well dispositioned as you. Afraid of anyone who is not like you - middle-class, employed, stable, probably White. if you know ANYTHING about politics in the US, you would know that we have always subscribed to the "Might makes right" rule internationally and locally. That means people who have been lucky enough or white enough to avoid any unfortunate circumstances that forced them to commit a crime (and get caught) are usually the ones getting laws and initiatives passed the make it easier to discriminate de-jure (that means behind scenes, idiot) and spouting off about how bad entitlement programs are, and all this crap about reverse discrimination. Pay ATTENTION here, I'm only going to say it once and I'll keep it simple for your little pea brain: Job = stability = personal responsibility = productive citizen. I'm not a felon, and I'm not defending feloneous behavior, but I'd bet my last buck that given the chances and opportunities you probably had, most felons would not be felons, and you, given the "crap" they probably have endured for their entire lives would have made the same mistakes they did because AT THE CORE, YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THEY ARE...YOU ASSHOLE! .

Posted by educatedblackguy Here on March 24, 2013 at 2:22 PM