I have a family member who has a criminal felony conviction on his record. He is currently unemployed, but he had a job at a warehouse few weeks ago. He got fired after his first day. The story is incomplete, but he says one of his co-workers started telling him what to do, and he told that co-worker to go to hell because he wasn't his supervisor. He said the next day that person had him fired because that guy did not like him. The other version we have is that he was on his cell phone most of the night, his girlfriend visited him while he was on the clock, and he left early.
I don't know what happened that resulted in his termination, but I do know this person has had the support and love of his entire family including me. He has had countless opportunities to do "the right thing" and has made choices not to.
I don't support the bill referenced in this thread because I think it will generally be a waste of money. I don't really understand the psychology of the mind of people who choose to engage in criminal activity but it seems to me that the lack of housing, employment, job training and mental health and substance abuse treatment is not the problem.
Here is information that has been in the news lately regarding HS graduation rates. This is not a Washington problem, not a school problem, a teacher problem, but a problem of choice on the part of the student.
Quote:
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Fourteen urban school districts have on-time graduation rates lower than 50%; they include Detroit, Baltimore, New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Denver and Houston.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/educati...ut-rates_x.htm