I know many people who know all too well what the sting of a felony conviction feels like. Taking a plea to avoid or get a reduced sentence is not the only thing to consider when taking a guilty plea. Most people don’t understand how that will affect them moving forward, once released from custody. For someone who has just finished serving their sentence, integrating back into society can be difficult. Take in to consideration that being just released, that person will be on probation or parole and that comes with a set of requirements. One being, finding a job in addition to having to find a place to stay and to report to your probation/ parole officer, you may also have to take some sort of counseling or drug classes depending on your charge. Probation can be served in 3, 5 and in some case 7 year terms.
We, better than anyone understand that mistakes happen, and that doesn’t mean you are a bad person. Even people who have committed some pretty bad crimes can come out completely rehabilitated, which is exactly what the system is supposed to do.
There are programs in California that people can take advantage for free to get them back to work, no matter what kind of background they have. Programs like CalJobs can help with so many different aspects, it hard to name them all but they can help with your resume and you can use their facilities to search for a job. If know someone who might benefit from their services I encourage you to reach out. Also, Mike Marinoff runs a great program that shows you exactly how to get the job you want, with actionable steps. Please call over at their Santa Ana location to see when he is scheduled; it is typically two half day classes and it is defiantly worth checking out.
It is not impossible to find a job with a felony conviction on your record but it can be difficult to keep trying, day after day when you see how difficult it can be. When all you want to do is work and you don’t care what type of job it is, it can take time to get back on to your feet and see that kind of progress. It is important to have programs like these in place to help get people back to being contributing members of society. It is good for them, and good for the economy.