Just read this on an American drivers’ site, and frankly was amazed at the responses:
Are there any companies that will hire me with a murder conviction I have from 1994? I was a juvenile when I caught the charge. ( Gang related shooting)
I’ve been out of prison since 2007 & off parole since 2010. I haven’t had any problems with the law or caught any new cases.
I’ve put in applications to over 350 companies. I’m coming on the forum asking for assistance in the hopes that someone has been through something similar or know someone who has.
I’ve tried all the starter companies Swift, western express, Crst, Covenant, NfI, etc all the major & mid major companies. Thanks in advance
2 pages in response, all very sympathetic and supportive with several links to companies and organisations who could help.
I wonder how something similar would be viewed here.
On one hand, if someone has served their sentence, then they should be let back into society again. They should be allowed to earn an honest living rather than have them turn back to gangs and crime again.
I would probably be of a different mind if I had lost anyone to this person, or in any gang violence etc.
If they are not to be executed, nor given full life, then they must be let back into society. Under supervision etc of course.
Under UK law “life” is compulsory for murder.
But if released then it is always “under licence” such that any crime, or breaking conditions of release under licence, could result in return to jail.
I know it’s not impossible in this country. However, this particular incident of a convicted killer getting his chance to reintegrate into society, resulted in yet another innocent person dying, only this time, the victim wasn’t the killer’s wife, it was a child…
Hard to call it, someone who was young and has kept a clean sheet, you wonder, it says gang related was it a rival gang member that was killed
Big responsibility for a transport company to give him a job after all the truck is a big weapon itself and if anything happened like a serious accident you could see the headlines
Probably better settling for a job where there is less responsibility,
You can’t blame him for trying, unfortunately serving your time and paying the price also being young doesn’t get you far, not for a serious offence like murder
Who, me? My views on this topic are a lot more complex than your question.
Mainly because over a very varied life I have personally known people who have killed (and I’m not only talking about killing in a military situation), and what I can say is that I personally, not in a general societal way, am content to look at every situation on its individual merits.
I agree, not easy, but I do believe in life means life but in particular circumstances, such as the copper who killed a woman after r ape, and Pitchfork who r aped and murdered 2 girls in Leicestershire.
I also think that in those cases where there are mitigating circumstances, such as murder after prolonged violence or other provocation, parole should be available after a specific number of years.
Howerver, in such cases where it is thought release under licence is applicable, then that licence should come under restrictions. Whether that would apply in the case of the man in question is debateable but it was revealed in the later exchanges by him that he isn’t allowed to drive hazardous loads, so that ruled out most tanker work for instance.
But my main point in publicising this here was to compare our attiitudes with the ones I saw from a similar group of people over there, and I must say I was surprised, in their attitude, not ours, because every single reply was supportive, not one single one of the qualifications we have here. At first I was surprised because generally the responses of our brother drivers there are much more critical, more ready to insult and pass judgement on the smallest thing.
I am thinking that I might have a clue. They are much more used to murder in everyday life, especially gun crime and perhaps they almost think this bloke’s story is not so unusual. A the moment I know in England knife murder seems commonplace and it almost seems inevitable as a result of so many youngsters carrying knives. In the USA, just swap the knives for guns, and it almost happens by accident.
I was also surprised that some of the suggestions for a new chance were companies who almost specialised in taking on ex convicts. But overall it was the most uncritical thread I have seen in my short time there. 'Till now, anyway.
A couple of update posts from across the water, the company was named but in a link and won’t copy:
Hires felons & ex-cons.
If you have less than 2 years experience, you may be eligible to be hired through a New Driver Training Program, so you should still apply if interested.
And, from a Mod:
… and kudos to you for getting out of the gangs etc, getting you life straight & becoming a productive citizen. Lots of respect for you. Hang in there…
Hopefully @Chinatown or someone else here can find something that leads you to a good job.
How can a murder sentence vary from the death penalty or life without parole for some to get out early and get on with life for others.
While ironically I think that life without parole or any long term sentence should include the right of the convict to request the death penalty for humane reasons.
Be careful there Spardo.
Some of that seems true, but some less so.
I know you mention knife crime, and we can look at that later, but look at UK homicide rates overall
But does the USA have more homicides than the UK,? Yes.
Almost seven times the rate, currently. But about ten times as high in the US in the '90’s as we have now. For adult truckers that is well within memory.
So, maybe it is more in their background thinking.
Knives in particular? FullFact have this piece. It is not good news at all, but then again, it is not the dystopian world that some are talking about.
I’d have no problem with that particular murderers request. Clean for 14 years and served his time for something that happened 30 years ago, when he was a kid.
Deffo give him a chance. Interview at least!
That is definitely more in line with the 100% view in the American forum, now into its 3rd page (probably about 30 posts), and may be my view too but I would need to know more details. Gang related violence may suggest a general melee with everyone carrying guns and thus there may have been mittigating circumstances for him, I don’t know. But if he was someone who set out to murder a particular person I might think differently
A few more posts this morning there, some are surprised as to why he is banned from all tanker work, not just hazardous. Also it appears that he is not allowed to enter Canada so no cross border work permitted. However, as the mod pointed out there is so much work in the US itself for that not to be a problem, but he does live in Illinois, so may have difficulty finding firms there who never cross.
9 out of ten are just bad and thats that.More cunning as years pass but still a wrong un . If hes so keen on being a trucker go buy a truck,save him stealing from the employer truck.
im not sure how it works in the states i have never been. is it all runs sold to the lowest bidder or are there companies that will take drivers on to distribute their goods. if the latter than whats it matter if they go over the border just give the guy a run that doesn’t
It is probably the Canadian authorities that ban such offenders from entering their country. I imagine he has some sort of endorsement in his passport so would be turned back at the border, not something an employer would allow to happen.
@Ledwidge you have just posted a direct link to the forum I have been quoting.
Also a brief translation for UK readers, the word ‘endorsement’. I used it above in the UK meaning, in other words something you would not want to have. For readers of that forum you should understand that they are desirable, that is they allow everything you are allowed to do and drive.
what i was saying is suppose i work for company x and get banned from one of their customers sites. All company x has to do is not send me to the customers site that i am banned from. Doesn’t stop me in that sense from continuing to work for company x
If Bloggs Transport delivers into X Ltd, and you are banned from X Ltd, you could easily be sacked from Bloggs. You cannot do what Bloggs wants you to do.
Take your argument to the extreme and you could say that losing your licence is no reason to sack you because they could still employ you a s a yard shunter.
Indeed, the company you work for cannot support a worker who can’t go everywhere they need him to.
In the case of the murderer a company, because of its proximity to a border you cannot cross, would simply not take you on.
