Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions • Hacker News Board

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#121

Post by monocasa » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

frockington wrote: post #68

izzydata wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree, but I am skeptical that they received the same chance as someone without a criminal record. Whether intentional or not there is probably some bias in the hiring process when you know they committed a felony or whatever it may be.

Two identical candidates, but one has a criminal past, you're going to take the non-criminal record every time. As unfair as it is in the larger picture, it's hard to justify the decision to hire a criminal when it's your neck on the line

There's more going on than that. A white man with a felony has about the same employment responses as a black man with a clean record.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/09/study-black-man-and-wh...

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#122

Post by loeg » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:36 PM UTC

Here's an earlier source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-c...

And the writing has been on the wall from about April: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-a...

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#123

Post by moate » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #57

bunderbunder wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things bounced back petty quickly. It only took about 80 years for us to start having access to good beer again. More seriously - I don't think organized crime went away. It was a big problem before prohibition, and it continued to be a big problem after. However, it may have been weakened by the loss of an extremely profitable revenue source. Alcoholism dropped precipitously during prohibition, and started coming ba…

Excuse me but the wet lawn mower clippings mixed with cinnamon and spicy chai with a shot of 5w40 for texture that is currently in vogue is not "good beer". I want a beer I can drink, not one I have to endure.

Then drink and let other people enjoy things without feeling that your non sequitur is going to be appreciated.

Ta da!

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#124

Post by loeg » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #15

> "For too many who call Seattle home, a misdemeanour marijuana conviction or charge has created barriers to opportunity - good jobs, housing, loans and education," she said. The problem isn't the marijuana convictions, the problem is a society that believes people with criminal records can and should have their entire lives ruined for it. It's a society that doesn't believe in rehabilitation, just "good people" and…

> The problem isn't the marijuana convictions, the problem is a society that believes people with criminal records can and should have their entire lives ruined for it.

Can't it be both? :-)

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#125

Post by lovich » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC

DrHuman wrote: post #109

Shivetya wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but many with criminal convictions are bad people. I know it may be nice to think otherwise. However there just are many people out there who are difficult if it not impossible to fully integrate into society. then you run into not society but government issues as well. just some examples my cousins run into all the time, they have to use temporary agencies to filter people and stock crews each week. Why?…

As a person with some criminal convictions in my past due to substance abuse, but now ready to reenter the workforce, this mentality terrifies me. What is going to happen if I am not deemed "rehabilitated"? It reminds me of a quote that has stuck with me from an unrelated article: >Capitalism doesn’t just determine our source of income but how we relate to each other, our surroundings, and ourselves. To be rendered s…

In all honesty, I don't know of a single employer who cares if you were rehabilitated or not. They see a checkbox and filter it out.

Your best bet is to move to a state with "ban the box" type legislation that prevents them from asking about criminal history until they've sent an offer. Those laws usually set up a regime around criminal history checks as well, that require companies to spend a decent chunk of change on compliance if they request criminal history. As most of these companies we're just being lazy and didn't actually care about criminal history they all tend to use cheap background check companies which give them the legal protection of having done a "check", but which usually find nothing that doesn't come up in 30 seconds of googling. The only companies that tend to do official background checks anymore are healthcare, banks, and government contractors.

I have one friend who had a checkered past and hasn't had anything come up in their background check in the past 5 background checks he's done, so there is a way forward.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#126

Post by mikestew » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

frockington wrote: post #72

drpgq wrote: post #11

I wonder what will happen in Canada once October 17th, the legalization date comes.

I'm hoping more Canadians become stoners and push wages up for people with clean urine

As a Seattle-area resident who's a few years ahead of our neighbors to the north, I can tell that you're likely to be disappointed. If for no other reason than the places that drug-test typically pay less to begin with.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#127

Post by njarboe » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

clairity wrote: post #119

clarkmoody wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Main problems I see are one step deeper: - Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense. This is a deep cultural problem, and I blame compulsory state schooling for exacerbating the issue of blindly trusting the government. Deference to arbitrary authority is drilled into our young minds over many formative years.…

> 'Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense.' yes, people do take that mental shortcut from time to time, but it's because the legal system is supposed to reflect our collective moral code. when it doesn't, we should fix the legal code to match. but listening to the kavanaugh hearing yesterday, it looks like t…

"are you really completely against patriotism?"

One of the founding principle of the American Republic was that the government is not the country. "We the people" and all that. Many would argue that to be a "true" American patriot one should be highly skeptical of government with skepticism increasing the farther removed it is from your local community.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#128

Post by samstave » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 5:58 PM UTC

clarkmoody wrote: post #91

mabbo wrote: post #15

> "For too many who call Seattle home, a misdemeanour marijuana conviction or charge has created barriers to opportunity - good jobs, housing, loans and education," she said. The problem isn't the marijuana convictions, the problem is a society that believes people with criminal records can and should have their entire lives ruined for it. It's a society that doesn't believe in rehabilitation, just "good people" and…

Main problems I see are one step deeper: - Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense. This is a deep cultural problem, and I blame compulsory state schooling for exacerbating the issue of blindly trusting the government. Deference to arbitrary authority is drilled into our young minds over many formative years.…

This is why religion shouldnt ever be allowed in politics.

Look at all the political scumbags constantly talking about morals and god while laying waste to the lives of fellow humans.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#129

Post by clairity » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

njarboe wrote: post #127

clairity wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense.' yes, people do take that mental shortcut from time to time, but it's because the legal system is supposed to reflect our collective moral code. when it doesn't, we should fix the legal code to match. but listening to the kavanaugh hearing yesterday, it looks like t…

"are you really completely against patriotism?" One of the founding principle of the American Republic was that the government is not the country. "We the people" and all that. Many would argue that to be a "true" American patriot one should be highly skeptical of government with skepticism increasing the farther removed it is from your local community.

but the government isn't something apart from ourselves. the government is us. the more we try to "other" it and give in to helplessness, the less effective we will be in controlling our collective destiny.

skepticism is healthy, dogmatism, not so much. yes, let's keep federal power in check (because it's too tempting to abuse and degenerate into authoritarianism), but no, let's not live in fear of it either.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#130

Post by bilbo0s » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

clairity wrote: post #119

clarkmoody wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Main problems I see are one step deeper: - Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense. This is a deep cultural problem, and I blame compulsory state schooling for exacerbating the issue of blindly trusting the government. Deference to arbitrary authority is drilled into our young minds over many formative years.…

> 'Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense.' yes, people do take that mental shortcut from time to time, but it's because the legal system is supposed to reflect our collective moral code. when it doesn't, we should fix the legal code to match. but listening to the kavanaugh hearing yesterday, it looks like t…

>but the appalling part is that no one--especially not politicians--is discussing partisanship as a legitimate reason for disqualification...

In fairness, in the modern era, partisanship has been a requirement to be on the Court. Every justice on the court is either liberal or conservative. They would not have been nominated otherwise.

Don't misunderstand me, I agree that maybe partisanship shouldn't be a requirement. I'm just saying that from a pragmatic perspective, it is a requirement. You, unfortunately, can't get nominated if you are not partisan. Even if you could, you certainly would come up against stiff headwinds in the confirmation process. It's just easier to be partisan and have half of those votes on your side no matter what.