Your Criminal Record Stays with You Forever

Do you know that your criminal record stays with you forever? Once you are in the system, it is nearly impossible to get out, not only that but it is hard to get ahead in life at all.

A friend of mine made a few criminal mistakes when she was younger. She made a decision eight years ago to turn her life around.

She moved in with her very supportive mother, she went to school for psychology for four years, stayed out of trouble, and worked under the table part time in order to save money.

She was forced to work under the table because no one would hire her due to her criminal record. She remained strong through it all in hopes that time will heal all wounds.

Four years later, she graduated, got her degree, had a small amount of money set aside and was ready to travel the road to independence.

Her first step was to find an apartment. Come to find out, landlords have a right to run a quarry on an applicant prior to renting them the apartment. Everywhere she applied to rent an apartment, they denied her as a direct result of her criminal record.

She remained strong and determined. She decided to stay with her mom a while longer and start looking for a job in the counseling area. She was more than qualified and again ran into the same problem. No one would hire her because of her criminal record.

She called a lawyer to see if there was any way she could appeal these decisions and denials from jobs and apartment rentals. She could not. Landlords have a right to decide whom they rent to. If they feel you are a risk than they are not obligated to rent to you. The same thing with employment.

The only thing she could do was to go to court and try to have her record sealed. She used her entire savings and hired a lawyer. The courts denied her request. There is a law that you have to be a law-abiding citizen for at least ten years before they will even consider sealing you record.

She was devastated. She had worked so hard for so long and for what. She could not get ahead if her life depended on it.

She ended up re offending. She knew no other way. She needed money and she needed to live. She was forced to do what she had in order to get by. She is now doing Five to seven years in prison.

After this happened I became concerned that others might be going through the same thing.

I went out and gathered information on it. The chances of a criminal re offending after five years of trying to overcome there past is astronomical. If they cannot get ahead doing things right than they will go back to doing wrong. They are discriminated on and not accepted by society no matter how hard they try.

How does the system ever expect them to be law abiding when they will not offer them equal opportunity? They tell them to get a job but will not give them one. They tell them to strive harder and then knock them down.

It makes no sense. Once a person with a record has changed there life around and can prove that to the courts, the court should be happy to seal there record. It should be an honor to them that they can say the system is working. That say that they push for rehabilitation but once someone is rehabilitated they give them no hope for a brighter future.

My friend worked hard, she proved herself. She wanted help, she needed help and she asked for help. She got nothing.

I think it is very sad and I wish there was some way to correct this issue. Not everyone wants help or even deserves it but why not reach out to the ones that do.