Fitzgerald: Fight crime by hiring felons

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stood before a room packed with business officials Thursday and asked them to do something they probably have never considered:

Hire felons.

Not exactly the kind of request you'd expect from the area's top federal law enforcement official, who's better known for locking up criminals.

But Fitzgerald told the audience that while law enforcement targets the worst of the worst, the community needs to get more involved -- especially the business community -- to help drive down murder numbers and keep kids out of gangs.

snip

He urged business officials to reach out and invest in some of the most economically depressed areas of the city, such as Englewood, Back of the Yards or North Lawndale. They can do that, Fitzgerald said, by getting involved in Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program run through the U.S. attorney's office in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies.



Read more: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1586462,CST-NWS-fitz22.article

[SkyDaddy7]

1. Sounds like a very good idea!

[AnneD]

2. That hasn't worked on Wall Street...

or the banking industry either but who knows ........


:rofl:

[WriteDown]

3. How many felons....

work in the US Attorneys' offices?

[Captain Hilts]

4. If you've 'paid your debt to society', you've paid your debt to society. Should be able to vote too

[Rebubula]

6. I agree on the Voting

Once you have served your time (prison and parole), you should have full voting rights. No question.

As far as hiring felons, it would depend on their crime and the job they are looking for.

[YOY]

5. If they truly mean to reform and not to warehouse people then damn good idea.

Some folks are beyond help. Some are not...they just need a new chance to start again and our prison system doesn't cater to them.

[pattmarty]

7. Pat Fitzgerald, a "true blue" Federal prosecutor.

[Merlot]

8. Back in the early 90's I took an extend class in computer (3 months)

It was expensive, about $3000. Most the students in the class were professionals, or recent grads looking to get into computers. There were some people in the class who didn't fit the profile. Turns out they were felons who were relased and put into a training program which included these computer classes. So the class was free for them.

I'm all for retraining felons etc. But with the skills they learned from that class, they should have been able to go get a job, and pay off the bill. Just like the rest of us had to.