Tag Archives: Crime

* (2) Obstacles to my prosperity

Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dan Rodricks complained that a recent Baltimore City ordinance on panhandling failed to address “the underlying issues.” He has failed to address them either; so, I thought I would. Here are those I personally see:

CHECKLIST

✓ TREATMENT ON DEMAND. Drug and alcohol treatment needs to be available on demand. This doesn’t affect me personally, but does affect panhandling — and prostitution, petty theft, shoplifting, smash-and-grabs, larcenies, and in fact all crime of any type. It’s not just traffic fatalities — half of all crimes are committed while someone is either intoxicated or seeking drug money. Continue reading * (2) Obstacles to my prosperity →

* Trayvon Martin

Justice, National media, National news, , , , , ,

But for the racial aspect, the Trayvon Martin case would not be noticed.

I admit being less concerned about him than about the dozens of other teens who are gunned down every month across the country for no better reason and by people of their own race. Someone will object that a black perpetrator would have been arrested. I answer that an arrest and prison term won’t bring back the dead.

(Originally posted 04/16/12 at Trojan Horse Productions.  Reblogged 04/06/17.)

talk show host, on air talent, talk radio, the homeless blogger

* Kansas prisoners get the granny treatment

Clippings, Get on your feet, Justice, National news, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of Peace, , , , , , , ,

Steve Hartman’s “On the Road” segment for the CBS Evening News, 11/01/13:

Kan. prisoners get the granny treatment

Here is a practical example of how brightening the “divine spark” within people can effect redemption or transformation.

(Reblogged 03/23/17.)

* Me, me, me.

Dependency, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Motivations, Poverty, Qabala, Squalor, , , , , , , ,

(Originally published 06/06/13 at Trojan Horse Productions.)

This has been a very heavy day, and there’s a lot here. For the moment, at least, I will not try to organize this.

Darkness at times appears to serve Light; destruction, to serve creation.

It is a rude awakening for me to have to revisit the world of infantile self-centeredness, apparently to have to re-learn correctly this time (at age 57!) some things I didn’t learn correctly on the first go-round.

A world where it is correct for me to want things only for “Me, me, me!”
Continue reading * Me, me, me. →

* My record cannot be expunged.

Career goals, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, Justice, News, Politics, Poverty, , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday I researched expungement in Maryland. My conviction was in mid-October 2010, and I’d understood one could get a misdemeanor expunged after three years, so I was hoping to take care of that now. Turns out there is no expungement of any guilty verdict, except in the case of any of a long list of truly trivial nuisance crimes, e.g. urinating in public or not paying one’s fare on the subway. To clear my record, I must apply for a pardon, for which I become eligible only after five years of being arrest-free after the end of probation (Oct. 2011). The paperwork is extensive. One’s application must include copies of one’s high school and college diplomas, any discharge from bankruptcy, and certified copies of one’s driving record from any state in which one has ever had a license (as in my case, Ohio until 1978).

So for the time being, until October 2016, my one (1) misdemeanor conviction will continue to bar me from employment with many of Maryland’s largest employers.

Previous post: Hiring discrimination and “backgrounds”

(Reblogged with update, 11/17/16.)

o Hiring discrimination and “backgrounds”

Clippings, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, Justice, News, Politics, Poverty, , , , , ,

EEOC sues over criminal background checks

This affects me.

In August ’10 I became the first member of my family in three generations ever to be arrested, let alone jailed. It was the only time I have ever been arrested. I was locked up for 40 days before being sentenced to “time served” on one misdemeanor charge. I have no other convictions.

In the months following, I applied to all kinds of jobs, including at each of the half dozen major hospitals located in downtown Baltimore. I was applying for secretarial jobs, janitorial jobs, groundskeeping — anything I could possibly do, as remains so today.

Each of those hospitals has its own online application system, and they’re all very similar, so I don’t recall which specific hospital this story involves. You enter a “profile” into their database, that includes all your employment information, history, references, etc.; this takes 90 minutes to two hours. That information is kept in their database, and thereafter you can apply to any job listing with just a handful of clicks. You can also access a listing of the jobs you’ve applied to, and each application’s status.

One Saturday I was at the public library submitting applications online. Click, click, click, submit. Check out the next listing; decide “go” or “no go;” click, click, submit. I did a bunch of those, and then went to check the list of applications’ status.

A number of the applications I’d submitted in the previous half hour had already been turned down.

I really don’t think anyone was working in the HR office on a Saturday screening applications. Clearly, they had some automatic software set up to pre-screen applications and reject anyone who admitted a criminal record.

The question is whether reformed criminals can find honest work.

Subsequent post: My record cannot be expunged.

Murder rates

Uncategorized,

Remarked here:

“A black person is seven times more likely to be killed by another black, than a white person is to be killed by anyone.”

The derivation is as follows.

The overall murder rate is 5.3 per 100,000.[1]
Half — 2.65 — of those victims are black.[2]
Blacks compose 1/8 of the population.
That’s 2.65 murders per 12,500 blacks.
To find the rate per 100,000 blacks, we must multiply 2.65 by 8.
2.65 × 8 = 21.20 murders per 100,000 blacks.

2.65 of the victims are non-black.
Non-blacks compose 7/8 of the population.
That’s 2.65 murders per 87,500 non-blacks.
To find the rate per 100,000 non-blacks, we must multiply 2.65 by 8/7.
2.65 × 8/7 = 3.03 murders per 100,000 non-blacks.

Let us consider D.L. Hughley’s proposition that murder only occurs among the poor.

2/5 of blacks are poor.  1/8 of the population are black.  So poor blacks are 2/5  × 1/8 = 2/40 of the population, or 1/20 or 5%.  5% of 100,000 is 5,000.
1/5 of non-blacks are poor.  7/8 of the population is non-black.  So poor non-blacks are
1/5 × 7/8 = 7/40 of the population, or 17.5%. 17.5% of 100,000 is 17,500.

If murder were solely among poor people,
2.65 murders per 5,000 poor blacks would be 2.65 × 20 = 53 per 100,000 poor blacks.
2.65 murders per 17,500 poor non-blacks would be  2.65 x 40/7 = 15.14 per 100,000 poor non-blacks.

[1]Wikipedia: List of countries by intentional homicide rate

[2]FBI — Table 21 (2016)