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Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

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Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#111

Post by milesvp »

adnam wrote: post #67

I wish we heard more stories like these. It might dissuade people from getting involved in drugs in the first place.

That is the absolute wrong takeaway here. It's about being overly harshly punished for mistakes in their youths. I've heard very similar stories from public defenders that have nothing to do with drugs, but with common punishment escalations that are hard to avoid when you're poor, and people surely can't avoid being poor.

Minor fine goes unpaid because this month the electric bill is more important.

Leads to more fines.

Leads to license suspencion.

Leads to driving while license suspended.

Leads to license suspension.

Leads to driving while license suspended.

Leads to felony jail time.

Don't get me wrong, there are choices made at each stage of escalation, and often all that's needed is to show up to court, dressed in your sunday best and respectfully explain situation to the judge, and the chain can be broken, but being poor leads to a lot of suboptimal decisions that could make it difficult or impossible to deal with any of this until there is no choice, and a felony conviction often ends up as the escalation that can't be putoff any longer.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#113

Post by 7cupsoftea »

YES!!!! This is exactly the kind of innovation we need. Great work! Let us know if we can help. We are at very beginning stages of supporting people that are re-entering and getting folks lined up with jobs in a safe and supportive way is a big part of that. Again, hats off!

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#114

Post by adnam »

milesvp wrote: post #111
adnam wrote: post #67

I wish we heard more stories like these. It might dissuade people from getting involved in drugs in the first place.

That is the absolute wrong takeaway here. It's about being overly harshly punished for mistakes in their youths. I've heard very similar stories from public defenders that have nothing to do with drugs, but with common punishment escalations that are hard to avoid when you're poor, and people surely can't avoid being poor. Minor fine goes unpaid because this month the electric bill is more important. Leads to more fi…

"Leads to license suspencion. Leads to driving while license suspended." Or, like, don't drive without a license.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#115

Post by danschumann »

I'd definitely consider hiring ex-cons, as long as they had some sort of 'come to Jesus' moment where they changed their life. I used to do a lot of bad stuff, just didn't get caught for it ( mostly doing drugs ). I wouldn't want to hire former me, but now that I've changed...

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#117

Post by RBBronson123 »

hirsin wrote: post #72
RBBronson123 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can't ensure they get a fair offer, other than by providing information and access to resources to address such injustices. I judge our success one job at a time, and one repaired family at a time.

Oof - unsolicited advice, but that combined with your acknowledgement of racism in the system will have some people calling you the plantation market. Even though you're not saying it explicitly, what I just read is that implicitly your revenue model is based on giving companies access to a below market cost labor force that's predominantly POC. While I lean towards the idea that its better they have access to a job…

Not below market at all. There's great demand for this labor, and it's driving wages up, if anything. The real effective response, I think, is providing training for jobs that pay much more than minimum wage. That's something we're working on, at scale. More on this at a later date.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#118

Post by fhood »

adnam wrote: post #107
fhood wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best way to dissuade people from criminal behaviors (in my opinion) is to make the impetus for the behaviors less attractive.

The best way to stop people doing bad things they want to do is the fear of certain and severe punishment. "Getting involved" is not something that you do by "mistake", you have to want to do it first. The only "mistake" is believing you won't get caught, presumable because so few do.

I genuinely feel that that is not an ethical approach, nor is it any more effective than removing the temptation/ ability to commit certain crimes. In some cases, I agree, severe punishment needs to be codified into the law, but that represents a tiny minority of crimes committed in the US.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#119

Post by DanBC »

adnam wrote: post #114
milesvp wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the absolute wrong takeaway here. It's about being overly harshly punished for mistakes in their youths. I've heard very similar stories from public defenders that have nothing to do with drugs, but with common punishment escalations that are hard to avoid when you're poor, and people surely can't avoid being poor. Minor fine goes unpaid because this month the electric bill is more important. Leads to more fi…

"Leads to license suspencion. Leads to driving while license suspended." Or, like, don't drive without a license.

leads to job loss. you want them to work, right?

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#120

Post by DanBC »

adnam wrote: post #107
fhood wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best way to dissuade people from criminal behaviors (in my opinion) is to make the impetus for the behaviors less attractive.

The best way to stop people doing bad things they want to do is the fear of certain and severe punishment. "Getting involved" is not something that you do by "mistake", you have to want to do it first. The only "mistake" is believing you won't get caught, presumable because so few do.

> The best way to stop people doing bad things they want to do is the fear of certain and severe punishment.

There is no evidence that's true. People still take drugs in countries with the death penalty.

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