Most people know that when you get a felony charge, you can no longer vote, but what other
things are felons banned from doing? 7. Travel
A felon in the US can get a passport no problem, but as to where they can go with
it is up to the country they want to visit. Some places have laxer rules than others.
Many countries, including Thailand, allow you in without having to get a visa first.
Some countries will require you have a visa, and they may also ask about a criminal record,
such as Japan and Australia. If they see you have a record, you might well be denied
entry. Then you have the countries of Brazil and India, which do ask you to get a visa,
but they don’t ask about a criminal record. But in the case of a felon who moved to Thailand
and then murdered his pregnant Thai wife, he was awaiting charges for serious offenses when he
entered the country. Surely some kind of alarm should have been triggered when he was leaving
the US or entering Thailand. Under Thailand’s 1979 Immigration Act, the country can turn you
away if immigration sees you have serious offenses and deems you some kind of threat to the country,
but that didn’t happen in this guy’s case. He slipped through the net...a few nets.
The fact an American fugitive was allowed in and then committed a heinous crime just months after
understandably made a lot of Thais very upset and angry.
It wouldn’t be the case in other countries. A felon won’t get into Canada.
Even a person who has been convicted of a DUI might not, although it seems after a
period of five years after release the Canadian Minister of Immigration can overturn the ban.
You won’t be allowed into the UK if you’ve committed a crime and have been sentenced to
more than 30 months, but again, there is a rehabilitation period and things
could change in the years after your sentence. If you’ve ever been convicted of drug offenses,
you can kiss goodbye to getting into Japan. In fact, this country is said to have the
strictest immigration laws of all countries, so even if you’ve been convicted of a misdemeanor,
you likely won’t be allowed to enter. So, all countries are different, but it goes
without saying if you’re a convicted felon you’re going to have to do your homework on where you can
travel. Your number of options will be seriously shortened because of your criminal record.
Traveling might be the last thing a newly released felon wants to do or can do, but now you’ll see
that just getting by is incredibly difficult. 6. Get a job
Maybe the felon doesn’t want to kick back on a beach in a foreign country and just wants to
leave his criminal ways behind and earn a living. That’s not easy...In fact, it’s far from easy.
Let’s imagine he was convicted of selling Big Pharma’s golden goose,
opioids? Do you think he could get a job in a pharmacy after being released?
The answer is a resounding NO, because states have laws which mean employers can turn you down for
a job if your offense was related to it in any way. The background check will mean that former
opioid seller will never work in a pharmacy. If you were convicted of a firearms offense,
you likely won’t ever become a cop or a person that sells guns. Still, you may be able to join
the police force if you were once convicted of theft, or possibly even a small drug offense.
We say ‘may’ because most police forces will put that application to the back of the pile.
Still, don’t despair, a felon could become a firefighter, although it will likely come
down to when the crime was committed and what the crime involved. It’s possible to get a job,
but it will be more complicated than if you weren’t a felon. At least you can get a foot
in the door and then prove you are reliable and fit for the job. It’s the same with the military,
you might be able to get in, but that will depend on the nature of the crime.
Jobs that will be very hard to get never mind what the conviction was or how much time has passed
is work in the field of education or healthcare. Ok, so what jobs can you get without many hassles?
We visited a website dedicated to finding jobs for convicted felons and found quite
a few types of industries that are known to hire felons. One of the first jobs on the
list was stocking products and bagging food in grocery stores. Not so great, but it’s a start.
The hotel industry was also listed, but rather than general manager positions the website said
“cleaning and maintenance services and helping customers with baggage” was more in demand, which
might be a turn-off for the very many educated, hardworking, trustworthy former felons out there.
Then there’s delivery work, flipping burgers, meat processing, truck driving, picking fruit,
and warehouse work, all of which are pretty much open to hiring felons.
Still, it all depends on the state and factors like how long ago you committed your crime.
Some states, and there are too many to mention, even report a person when they
have been found not guilty. That verdict, however innocent a person is, could still tarnish them.
According to that website we mentioned, if you’re a felon you might find it easier getting hired if
you live in California, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New York, Texas, or Washington. Even so, unfortunately for the most rehabilitated
felons who once made a mistake, life can be tough. This is what one felon said about her experience:
“I can testify being a convicted felon more than 35 years ago
I have had my share of jobs terminating me and not hiring me due to my background.”
Another person, who said he was wrongly convicted of committing
a property damage crime as a teenager, wrote,
“It is an absolute nightmare. Just try your best to get it expunged, sealed, or pardoned.”
Lastly, if you were licensed to do a job and then got convicted of a felony
you will likely lose that license. So, if you were an optometrist, an elevator installation guy,
a masseur, a beautician, an architect, a paramedic, an embalmer, or even a hairdresser,
you might struggle to get the same job again. If you think that’s crazy, in Texas a “master
stylist” did time for drugs and when he got out he could not work with people’s hair again. He
told the media, “I had a job coming out, everything was set, but the state said no.
Because I had a felony record, I couldn’t get nothing. So, I can’t get steady work.”
This guy was a master, but even if you were merely a “shampooer” and that’s all you did,
you likely would be banned from doing that again in some states after you got out of prison.
Well, at least you have the right to vote for politicians that might change those
laws...Err...maybe not. 5. Vote
So, let’s just accept that the person who said he was wrongly convicted of a property crime – the
keying of a car – really didn’t do it. He said his girlfriend did, actually, but he took the
wrap. Anyway, should he really not have the chance ever again to cast a vote? If not, why? How would
that make sense? If a felon has been released and so in the state’s mind he’s rehabilitated,
why should he not be able to cast a vote? These are the kinds of questions people are asking.
Historically many convicted felons have indeed lost their right to vote.
But, they can apply to have that right reinstated. Then you’ve got Columbia,
Maine, and Vermont, where felons never lose that right, even while behind bars. In 19 other states,
they can vote but only when they’re released. In 18 other states, they lose the right but
will get it back over time, while in 11 states felons will likely never vote again, or at least
if they can’t persuade the governor to give them a pardon, or by some other method have their right
to vote restored. How quickly that right is given back may depend on the severity of the crime.
Ok, so no travel, no job, no right to vote...at least you might have
a chance to ensure justice is applied fairly, because maybe it wasn’t for you...Think again.
4. Serve on a jury Typically, if you are a convicted
felon you won’t be able to serve on a jury and decide if someone else is guilty of a crime.
Things seem to be changing, though. Recently in California, the rules were changed so
that most felons could become a juror if they weren’t on probation or parole. The
only people who won’t get this right back are those who have committed felony sex offenses.
Still, of the 19 million-plus Americans with felony convictions, most will not be allowed
to serve on a jury in 49 states. In 28 states, that can never be reversed but in the others,
they should get the right restored. This law actually goes back hundreds of years
and was put in place because criminals were deemed people who were not of sufficiently
good character to make such important decisions. The other reason is the fear that felons might
feel some amount of sympathy for the person who’s been charged, and therefore skew the decision.
Nonetheless, people have argued that felons might not be biased at all, and some will have a better
understanding of the criminal justice system than people who’ve never had any dealings with the law.
Some studies have also found that law enforcement personnel, who can serve on juries,
are pro-prosecution most of the time and so have their own bias. Also, research of felons in Maine,
where they can serve on a jury, found that they made as good a juror as anyone else.
It’s also been argued that by banning felons as jurors people may not get a fair trial. Remember,
eight percent of Americans are convicted felons, but you should also know that a third of them
are black. This is what one lawyer said about that and what happens in court:
“I can’t tell you how often I’ve sat at the defense table with a young African American client
who was excited to prove his innocence, only to see his enthusiasm replaced with
hopelessness and dread once he saw the jury.” The same lawyer would argue that if you live in
a country with a system in which the public can decide your guilt, then surely those who serve
as jurors should look like you or perhaps have a similar background to you. He would
probably say diversity is key to a fair jury. If a felon doesn’t like the way this is, maybe
they should become President? As you’ll see, while not impossible, the chance of a former small-town
weed dealer becoming POTUS is slim. 3. Become a politician
When you are a felon, you won’t be able to hold any kind of political position,
although after you’ve completed all of your sentence, you could get that right restored.
Once that’s happened, you could even become President one day, but of course your history
will be known to everyone. The question was asked on one website if a convicted felon once released
can run for any kind of elected office and this was the answer:
“The Constitution allows a convicted felon to be a member of Congress,
even if in prison. It’s up to the Senate or House to decide who may serve. As for state offices,
different laws apply in different places.” In fact, we found quite a few convicted felons
who’d once fallen foul of the law but have rebuilt their life and become politicians.
Some of them thought they were in a good position to understand how some people dealt
bad cards early in life can fall into crime and sometimes get lost forever in the justice system.
So yes, you can get into politics, but you’ll have to jump through many hoops. As for the next one,
it’s something everybody deserves the right to do but felons often don’t get it.
2. Rent houses If life wasn’t
hard enough for a convicted felon, getting a roof to live under can make it much harder.
On one law-based web forum, one convicted felon posted this question:
“I recently applied for an apartment and was rejected. The reason they gave me was
stated in one word: criminal. I have a felony conviction almost 10 years
old. Is this a form of discrimination?” The expert replied and yes, he said that’s
definitely a form of discrimination…but he added, it doesn’t matter, because no one
will be held accountable for it. A person has a case if they are turned down for a house or
an apartment because they are, say, Ethiopian, or Buddhist, or homosexual, or use a wheelchair,
but in most states, a landlord has the legal right under the Fair Housing Act to discriminate
in the case of renting a place to a felon. NPR did a story on this back in 2016,
stating that one in four Americans has a criminal record, and it’s really hard to find a place to
live for those many people. One guy interviewed committed a burglary when he was in his 20s,
and even though he hadn’t committed another crime, at 51 he was living with
his mom because he said finding a place to live with his criminal record was too hard.
He tried once to rent a place in a trailer park, and he got hold of the keys, only for the landlord
to take them back after doing a background check. Even if you do stay in the US and get that job
you always wanted, you may be turned down by landlords when you find a place you
like. This is not even rare, it’s common. Ok, so no place to stay, no job, no money.
What about legally getting a gun, to perhaps rob someone’s place to get some money? The answer to
this is going to shock you. 1. Own a gun
It would be understandable if a felon released from prison convicted of shooting someone was
rejected when he applied for a firearms license. Actually, it doesn’t really matter what offense
you committed, getting such a license will be hard in some states, but not others.
For instance, under Texas law, if five years have passed since the person was released from
their probation or parole, they can legally have a firearm but they can only keep it in
their house for protection. Taking it outside is not allowed. That’s a crime in itself.
In some cases, a felon might be able to get their right to own a firearm reinstated,
but it should take some time. Even though it is said to be hard to do this,
we found an article in the New York Times that seems to suggest it’s not at all, in some parts
of the US at least. The newspaper told a story: A man catches his girlfriend half-naked with his
friend. The man shoots and kills that friend. The man is arrested. He was also a convicted felon.
He’d been banned from legally owning a firearm and was even known to be violent and dangerous.
Still, when he applied to Washington state to have that right restored,
he got what he wanted. The guy then went out and bought not one gun but a cache of guns.
This is what the Times wrote to summarize this kind of thing:
“Every year, thousands of felons across the country have those rights reinstated,
often with little or no review. In several states, they include people convicted of violent crimes,
including first-degree murder, and manslaughter.” In one such case, a guy in Minnesota served three
years in prison after firing a shotgun into a house where a woman and her young son were
sitting. He was annoyed she’d broken up with him. Prior to that, he’d gotten out of prison,
and later his gun rights were restored. All in all, it’s thought that about half
of US states will never restore those rights but the others will, even in some
cases if the felon had previously shot someone. It might seem strange to some people outside
of the US when you tell them that felons, even ones who’ve served time for murder,
can regain their right to have a gun but people convicted of non-violent crimes don’t have a leg
to stand on when they are turned down for a house. Now you need to watch, “Degrees of Murder - What
Do They Mean?” Or, have a look at, “When is it Legal to Kill?”