Can you find a respectable job with felony drug charges?

Question

my husband has seven felony drug charges from when he was a kid. the last one was almost 7 yeas ago. he has since gotten his bachelor degree. will he have a hard time finding a respectable job because of his past? what about when getting a loan to buy a home? do they pay attention to criminal history?

Answer 1

Many states have programs where you can expunge old convictions and start anew. Go down to the local chapter of "Legal Aid" ask about "expunging the record."

Most say you must have:

No crime of violence

Served your full time, including parole/probation, and then some, sometimes up to three times over.

Been a beneifit to the public at large, employed, all that good citizenship things.

Show why this would benefit the people.

Then some convictions my be reduced to a misdimeanor and expunged.

Even then, some places will not hire even if its expunged. But your quality of life will be better without the conviction. Its worth looking into anyways.

Good luck to you both.

Answer 2

Not with me.

I hire people everyday for the record.

Happy he is working on changing, but the risk is to high.

Many people with clean records looking for work.

Plus I work under the Crime Free Housing Program and the police would take a dim view of hiring him.

I also could not rent to him under that program.

There is no free credit reports at TrueCredit.com.

You have to buy their service.

Answer 3

Ouch, he really screwed up. All of his past misdeeds are going to come back to haunt both of you. Can't get a house without a job, a good job may be hard to get with a felony record.

Most good companies will do a background check to protect themselves. I'm sorry, for you, but when many are young they think they can do whatever, because it won't matter. Well as you're finding out it does matter. Best of luck to you.

Answer 4

The free credit report is available from each of the 3 credit bureaus annually, so stagger your choice of firm.  It's totally free to get your report from your choice of firms at www.annualcreditreport.com  I've been using this site for about 3 years now to check my credit record and as requested by other family members.

Since your husband is now maturing, some companies will look past his history but it will be tough.  He will eventually find a "respectable" job and then will have "experience" along with his degree and more time since his convictions.  That can only help!  Good luck to you both.

Answer 5

If he was a "kid" and under 18 at the time of the offenses, the records are sealed (they won't show up in a background search).

But any offense over 18 will show.  It's up to the employer to decide who gets hired.  He could be denied a job with a squeaky clean record, he could be denied a job with a messy rap sheet, it's up the employer.

As for loans, the Credit Bureaus keep some criminal offenses (generally for no more than ten years).  I recomend going to TrueCredit.com to obtain his free Credit Report, you can decide for yourself how it looks.

Contact your state's Attorney General if you want to obtain his rap sheet.

EDIT:

If he was 18 or 19 it will definently show in a background check.  I'm sure employers will take the time into consideration.

And after ten years, the offense is removed from your credit history, so you can get a loan.

Answer 6

Nobody has felony convictyions as a kid, and certainly not 7 of them.  Even if he was like 15-19, he'd only get his first convictions disposed of as youthful-offender, the others would be marked as adult-convictions and left unsealed on his record.  I don't think anybody is going to see as many as 7 felonies as simply being stupid.  They're going to see a career criminal, and your characterization of his conduct as juts stupid won't fly.

A re you sure that they are felonies?  He may have been arrested and charged by the police for felonies, prosecuted and even indicted for felonies, ye might have just been convicted of misdemeanors; he might have completed a program and been sentenced only for misdemeanors.  It's important to know just how those cases ended up.   Seven years is not long ago - in NYS, if you've been convicted of a felony within 10 years, your next felony carries a mandatory minimum sentence of state incarceration.  That ten year period doesn't begin until after you've been sentence, and it excludes time you've spent in jail (even for that 1st felony).

That he finished school is good, but our prison system is "blessed" with people who used their time in as constructively, and your husband may not stand out.

Your husband will have a hard time finding work - there's just no way around that.  Jobs involving care of children or the elderly are out.  In NYS, we have defendants awaiting entence/dismissal of their case while in drug treatment programs.  They do get jobs but not infrequently find themselves turned away when their records are revealed to their employers.

It does suck that past problems come back to haunt you.  But you gotta look at this from the emploter's POV - it's going to suck if you give a break to a felon who turns around and betrarys you nontheless.