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

I don't know really. Most don't seem to serve their full term anyway and here in Scotland many are being let out early due to lack of space in our prisons.

I have worked with ex-offenders and would be OK about this.

You probably already know a couple but they haven't told you!

The son of my friend served time for assault many years ago, he was a very young man. Subsequently married, runs his own business and has a son, he’s done work for us and I trust him. So, I suppose it depends Franbern on how I know them them, the circumstances and what they did.

Everyone can make mistakes and should be given a second chance. But not if the offence was violent.

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.

I know two people who went to prison, one for GBH and the other with intent to cause GBH.
Both cases were surprising but the intent one especially so as it was very much out of character. I don't see him now but wouldn't snub him if he joined a club I belonged to.

A friend of mine has been a prison visitor for many years, and consequently I have met people who have been released.

I agree that a second chance is a good thing but it needs to be properly supported in a positive way. Too often people arrive out of gaol to find their world is upside-down, even after a shortish sentence.

I always use Timpsons for watch repairs and keys for that very reason. They actively support ex-offenders.

How would you know Gran22boys?

Presumably if (say) Jaxjacky's friend's son was there you wouldn't know?

I once knew someone who was a high flying rather shady professional who committed fraud. He lost everything after he was released from prison. He tried to re-invent himself but is now a shadow of what he once was. It is very, very hard to re-integrate and I think a lot depends on what kind of person they were beforehand what sort of crime it was. Also, how they have dealt with the aftermath. You can get people who are totally re-generated and go on to help others who have found themselves where the ex-con once was. I think it is a case by case outcome.

Two people I worked to support live near me. I am happy to chat to them.
I know their offences and backgrounds. One had committed murder - it was a very specific situation. I honestly can't imagine him ever being a risk again and whilst I'm not "friends" with him wouldn't be bothered if he lived next door.

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

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.

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

otherwise who would live and work on Coronation Street?

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.

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.

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’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 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 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].

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 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

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!

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?

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.