Ethical question - how do you feel about second chance??

It would very much depend on the crime but also on the attitude of the individual, whether they had accepted responsibility and shown remorse.

butterandjam

You're far more likely to know someone who has not told you they have been banned from driving for 6 months or a year.

Not because they have a "bad back" or "waiting for a car repair insurance claim" , excuses acquaintances of mine gave to explain why suddenly, their car is off the road. No mention of having lost his license for speeding or drunk driving.

Those are common and potentially deadly, life-changing dangers to innocent parties which some convicted people never reveal. You're far more likely to know them, than a sex offender.

Yes, but nobody will be unknowgly getting into a car with them.

As others have said it depends on the offence, I know a few that have been to prison and treat them as any other person and expect them to be as trustworthy as anyone else.
There are plenty who have not been to prison that cannot be trusted.

The only people I know who are not driving have handed in their licences due to changing medical conditions.

You may know paedophiles without realising it. They do not look different from other people nor do they wear a placard around their necks.

Only in so far as we can be absolutely satisfied that the person was convicted for a crime that showed he/she was not a psychopath.

Otherwise my answer would be no.

I assume we are talking about serious crime and not stuff like theft, fraud etc.

If someone does offend again and goes back to prison there will be a devastating child and family left in their wake.

You're far more likely to know someone who has not told you they have been banned from driving for 6 months or a year.

Not because they have a "bad back" or "waiting for a car repair insurance claim" , excuses acquaintances of mine gave to explain why suddenly, their car is off the road. No mention of having lost his license for speeding or drunk driving.

Those are common and potentially deadly, life-changing dangers to innocent parties which some convicted people never reveal. You're far more likely to know them, than a sex offender.

I've not got much faith in strict surveillance I'm afraid.

Of course they should be given a second chance- what else could we do except keep them all in prison forever amen?
Child abusers are on the sex offenders register for life regardless of the type of abuse- they are monitored very closely and often find trying to re-integrate very difficult.
Whilst not defending their crimes, people need to be reassured that they aren't just 'let loose' to offend again.
If they do they're straight back to prison with much stricter conditions.

I'm on the fence regarding it being better we don't know.
I know that vigilante "justice" has gone horribly wrong, and i don't condone that at all.
In terms though, of someone possibly having access to minors because their parents don't know... well...

Certainly when my children were young, I did not allow them to go to a house where there was a variety of criminal behaviour, the child was very welcome at our house.
In terms of child abuse material , they will offend again.

ViceVersa

It would very much depend on the offence, to be honest. There are some which I do believe do NOT deserve a second chance, under any circumstances.

Same here.
Most crimes then yes, but some…just no.

MissAdventure

I wouldn't choose to be around someone with a conviction for accessing sexual abuse of childre.
If it came to it, i would leave a social club that welcomed them.
Not because they necessarily pose a risk - i would feel the same about an animal abuser, and i don't want to have anything to do with them.c

Yes, I think most of us would, which is why it's better that we don't know. If people have no hope of acceptance they will give up, and sometimes the social control of belonging to a community is stronger than the fear of external punishment.

It's a tricky one. I wouldn't feel comfortable chatting to someone who had done something like that, which is why I assume most people who are convicted start again in another area on release. Whether it should follow them for the rest of their lives is another matter though.

The OP is not necessarily about CSA though. If someone had committed tax fraud or similar is it different?

Absolutely no problem with most things bar child abused and sex offenders.
I live in a very small community and make no apology for shunning child sex offenders that I know!

I wouldn't choose to be around someone with a conviction for accessing sexual abuse of childre.
If it came to it, i would leave a social club that welcomed them.
Not because they necessarily pose a risk - i would feel the same about an animal abuser, and i don't want to have anything to do with them.c

hollysteers

I’ve been meeting an old friend for lunch for years, now in his late eighties. He was in prison for taking money from the bank where he worked years ago, to keep up with a smarter set. ( He doesn’t know I know !) My late DH told me. He’s excellent company and managed to find employment after his jail term. I have no problem with him.

On the other hand, I have a friend whose son is in prison for serious assault, drug offences and it’s allied to a mental illness as is so often the case. I’d be very wary indeed in his company,

Agree with this as well.

The only person I know[well assume I do] that has been in prison, is a young lady who was very foolish - very reckless driving.

I think she has learned her lesson now.
I would welcome her into any social group.

I agree that a second chance is a good thing but it needs to be properly supported in a positive way.

This.

Especially around children. [shudder].

I know someone (accessing child pornography); prison sentence, lost everything, wife, children, home, ,job and have some understanding, very disrupted childhood. I would be prepared to let him to do work for me (own business) but socially, no. I know the huge upheaval his behaviour caused in the lives of his family and although they supported him through the worst and continue to do so they know you can never go back nor would they want to.

I’ve been meeting an old friend for lunch for years, now in his late eighties. He was in prison for taking money from the bank where he worked years ago, to keep up with a smarter set. ( He doesn’t know I know !) My late DH told me. He’s excellent company and managed to find employment after his jail term. I have no problem with him.

On the other hand, I have a friend whose son is in prison for serious assault, drug offences and it’s allied to a mental illness as is so often the case. I’d be very wary indeed in his company,

I would be wary if I knew someone had been jailed for child abuse - of course I would - but the father of a friend of my son was arrested for having photos on his computer and another unrelated sexual offence. My son had been in and out of his house since nursery days (my son was an adult at the time of the arrest), and nobody was any wiser about his 'proclivities'. We don't know what goes on in the lives of people we know socially - sometimes we don't know what goes on in our own families.

If I'm perfectly honest, if I had known when my son was a child I would have been uneasy about his going to the house, but I didn't, and nothing untoward happened to him.

Excluding people socially is very damaging, and may be likely to push them into reoffending, and to connect with others like them. I understand the reasons for having lists of child sex offenders, but part of me is uneasy about the impact of them.

For less serious offences - say shoplifting - if someone has made a mistake and been punished for it, are they any more likely than anyone else to make off with the milk money or steal the biscuits? Is it fair to make people pay for mistakes for the rest of their lives?

I see nothing untoward about people wanting to join a social club, and I'm not judge or jury, but i suppose i would be a bit wary, depending on their crime.

ViceVersa

It would very much depend on the offence, to be honest. There are some which I do believe do NOT deserve a second chance, under any circumstances.

Interesting response, probably a very truthful one. So if someone had been jailed for child porn photos or a particularly violent crime, would that mean that they should be shunned for the remainder of their lives?.

I also do wonder how much we really know of the people we mix with, particularly in our later years. Where I live (and moved to six years ago), many of the people in the different groups I attend have also moved here in retirement. We do often discuss our former jobs/lives, etc. but have no idea as to the veracity of what we are hearing, and if any of them had ever been in prison they are not likely to tell us.

it's a question of believing in rehabilitation isn't it?

otherwise who would live and work on Coronation Street?

I try to take people as I find them. There is no reason for people to tell anyone they've been in jail, so I probably wouldn't know. I do believe in rehabilitation, so wouldn't oppose someone who was trying to make a fresh start.

'Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future', as the saying goes.

For me, I think it would depend on the crime they'd committed.