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"why we have such a high recidivism rate in the states."

Probably for the same reason. We never give them a fair chance afterward.

A fair chance includes a difficult employment ecosystem for everybody. Even a fair chance, likely means they'll be unemployed.

I don't disagree, but I am skeptical that they received the same chance as someone without a criminal record. Whether intentional or not there is probably some bias in the hiring process when you know they committed a felony or whatever it may be.

Two identical candidates, but one has a criminal past, you're going to take the non-criminal record every time. As unfair as it is in the larger picture, it's hard to justify the decision to hire a criminal when it's your neck on the line

There's more going on than that. A white man with a felony has about the same employment responses as a black man with a clean record.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/09/study-black-man-and-wh...

You seem to have restated the problem.

Surely the decision should be based on the likelihood of future criminal action. If a criminal past is accepted as an indicator of future criminal activity then we have rejected the concept of rehabilitation. If this is the only deciding factor we may also blind ourselves to other risks.

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