Posted on 05/15/2011 7:46:45 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
Lorenzo had a hard time concealing his nervousness. Standing in front of a large room packed with Boeing employees in late March, the tall, lanky African American gang member described the arc of his life. At 22, he had spent nearly a third of his life incarcerated.
Peering out of his round, black-rimmed glasses, he talked about his seven months at Homeboy Industries (the largest gang reentry program in the country), and about how he had moved quickly from the janitorial team to become an assistant in the accounting department. "I used to steal money," he said. "Now I'm counting it."
I had the honor of witnessing Lorenzo's seven-month journey from convict to accounting assistant, watching as he became the young man God had in mind when he made him. But despite his remarkable turnaround and the many things he had to offer an employer, Lorenzo's prospects for finding a job outside our program were dim.
Opportunities for second chances are few for people like Lorenzo. Homeboy Industries is about the only game in town. Most employers just aren't willing to look beyond the dumbest or worst thing someone has done.
Another "homie" recently came to me for help after, for the third time, he was let go from a job because his employer had discovered he'd done five years in prison. He told me the boss said, "You're one of our best workers, but we have to let you go." Then, with a desperate sadness, the young man added: "Damn, G. No one told me I'd be getting a life sentence of no work."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I am a strong believer in personal redemption (not talking about the Christian idea of redemption here). But personal redemption does not come by somebody offering you a hand out or a hand up as much as it does coming from YOU offering to own and pay back the debt you have incurred. So, the criminal who steals, what should he do to achieve redemption? Receive a job, work at that job and earn an honest living—or receive the job, work at a job, make an honest living and REPAY the debt he incurred? What does redemption mean anyway? Isn’t it a “buying back”?
By the way, the redemption does not come on the redeemed one’s terms, but based on whether and when the redeemer decides that the debt has been settled. This is probably why so many are so loathe to give those convicted of crimes second chances. Liberal judges have levied far too lenient amounts of “debt to society” and the criminal, having not been given the opportunity to be truly redeemed has not experienced the change of heart about the debt neither has he had the chance to settle the debt owed. Employers (read “society”) likely look at the criminal justice system with its wrist-slapping, molly-coddling of HARD-CORE recidivists and has a hard time believing that these folks are sincere in their desire to go straight and, therefore, worth the risk. Is that the employers’ fault...or the failure of the justice system to exact justice?
Maybe not, and I’m not suggesting that we can ever let them be free either. If they are dangerous, they are dangerous.
End of story.
However, if you want to put an end to the gang problem, genocide is not a solution, which is essentially what you’re suggesting.
We Conservatives have the solutions to the problems of society. They are the same solutions used to bring our society from the time of barbarism.
Yet, your only solution is to become what Liberals routinely paint brush us Conservatives with.
And did you notice that those tattoos spell out a friendly greeting? - 'f*** y**'
People are people.
You don’t need to become the barbarian to handle barbarians.
I have to deal with the dredge of society all the time. Not once have I had to make it an issue of who is the stronger one to control them and prevent the crap that they do.
I had a similar experience as an employer. I was interviewing a young man for a technicians job. On his resume it said something about being discharged from previous employment. Mind you this was the young mans self prepared resume. I knew that to go deeper into the cause was on the edge of propriety. However, I did ask the young man if he wanted to to tell me why he was discharged/fired. He didn’t hesitate to tell me it was about being on drugs. He was caught up in the drug movement with students at the University where his dad was a prof. He offered that he no longer was a druggie. I hired the young man as much for his candid disclosure as I saw potential for the job. Never regretted my decision at any time and the young man was still doing a teriffic job after I left the organization. I believe you have to have cognizance of real character in choosing employees. I guess this comes from personal experience as a non conforming youth.
Most of them would cut your throat in your sleep. It takes more force than that to stop them.
I suspect that even though you deal with the “dredge” of society you actually do not have contact with real hard cases. You probably see the ones like on Dog the Bounty Hunter. Those are “dredge” but not hard cases.
There are hard cases that would shock most cops. The LAPD has certain parts of town that they do not go into, unless in mass force, where it is a badge of honor to kill a cop.
Right now in my town a 13 year old Hispanic male is charged with murder. He will get sent to prison and turned into a model gangbanger most likely by MS13. When he comes out he will do it all again - he will kill someone’s loved one and then be housed by the State for 25 years before execution. He will be a hero of the gang world and worshiped.
Metering out justice to these scum is not barbaric. It is protecting society. It is no different than killing the enemy on the battlefield. These gangbangers want to tear down the society you old so dear.
Gang bangers are terrorists, just like any member of Al-Qaeda.
“”Damn, G. No one told me I’d be getting a life sentence of no work.””
Maybe he should have asked the parents of some kid he sold drugs to, stabbed, stole from.
How many life sentences did this scumbag hand out with his actions? Sometimes, getting kicked in the teeth is what you deserve.
“...... he was let go from a job because his employer had discovered he’d done five years in prison”
I wonder if serving five years in prison might be something a person would tell a prospective employer. duh...
What I’ve noticed about the justice system, judging from Freeper comments and from the news stories that Freepers have posted and from what I’ve read in news stories and whatnot, is that the current attitude about justice in the States is that it has stopped being a justice system, where the punishment fits the crime, to one where, if you can just punish the person hard enough and vicious enough and often ebough, he will want to stop being bad and want to be good. It has become a test of wills between the perp and the state, where if the state is strong enough, it will win. I think that is part of the reason why you are reading about SWAT teams busting into suburban homes and shooting it up, where the only crime the guy is accused of is being being his child support payments or some other minor crime, that in times past, would have been handled between the perp and the Sheriff over a cup of coffee.
That isn’t the justice system laid out by Scripture. In Scripture, justice, as defined by God, has three parts. 1. Retribution - the punishment was to influence the person to not commit a crime and if he did, he would be punished enough so that it would hurt. 2. Restitution - what the accused took from the victim, would be replaced by the convicted. For example, if he took your tv set, he would be required to either return it or replace it. 3. Rehabilitation - somebody who has fallen out of favour from society could eventually work himself to a position of respectfulness.
That is justice, as defined by the Bible, but I don’t see that as how the US defines justice.
And it is contributing to your downfall as a country.
And just to clarify, lest anybody lay out such an accusation to nullify my point, I am not a bleeding heart Liberal who is trying to reduce punishments to nonexistence.
I would pull the cord or switch myself, for the death penalty is sometimes the only punishment befitting some crimes.
There is not another Australia on the planet!
You and I wuz his 'daddy'; courtesy of Unca Sam and the Do-Gooders.
We've subsidized the 'lifestyle' by makin' Momma the brood mare and paid her to do it!
This whirlwind is really biting our asses; isn't it!
Well, yeah!
It's VERY low in NEVER cons: almost zero in fact.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.