When the class discussed Marked I was really surprised by how many people used anecdotal evidence of working with felons to make a point that there are reasons employers may not want to hire them. I'm certainly no expert on felons, and to my knowledge have never worked with a convicted felon, but it does surprise me that so many people stereotype a group of people based on certain common experiences. I guess what Dr. Hobby was saying about the difference in the prison system of rehabilitation vs. punishment is really evident here in our assumptions about felons. A person who has in the past committed a felony can no longer be trusted because past actions reflect on their future. Their prison sentence was punishment for crimes committed. Being released from prison does not mean the person will not commit another felony. Instead it is just the opposite. A person who has proven themselves untrustworthy in the past will do so again in the future, because past actions give people an indication of future behavior. The classification of felon will follow that person throughout his or her life, affecting potential employment possibilities. Even people who have managed to rehabilitate themselves and really do not want to commit more crimes will have difficulty re-integrating into a society that no longer trusts them.

    Honestly I can absolutely see why a potential employer, given the choice between a person convicted of a felony and a person not convicted of a felony, would choose to employ a person not convicted of a felony. I don't see it the same way I would as an employer hiring on a racial basis, since the person has in the past actually done something illegal and until that person proves otherwise, he or she is going to be judged by past behavior. However, the study described in Marked finds that potential employers are more likely to hire Whites with criminal backgrounds than Blacks with no criminal background, meaning that employers are not always discriminating on criminal backgrounds but are definitely discriminating on a racial basis.

    Also, it is a concern that a felon would have such trouble finding a job when he or she needs a job to provide for themselves. If the person can't earn enough money in a legal way to survive, he or she is much more likely to turn to earning money outside the law leading to repeat convictions. This is definitely a problem that affects racial minorities considering the study's findings that Blacks with felony convictions are less able than their White counterparts to find employment.

    I don't know what the solution is to this sort of discrimination. Are there tax breaks for employers hiring felons? Maybe some kind of halfway house program for felons released from prison that will both provide job training and personal references to employers hesitant to trust and hire a person who has committed a felony in the past. I think the first problem is that our prison system punishes instead of rehabilitates, meaning that there is no effort within the prison system to figure out why the felony was committed in the first place and address those problems if they can be addressed. In these cases I'm thinking of mostly drug charges. Maybe then a person coming out of a rehabilitation program that teaches job skills would have a positive impact on society's perception of convicts.