For english we needed write a persuasive speech on prejudism. I chose the subject of ex-criminals and how they are looked at in society.
Here is my speech:
OK, Imagine just for a minute, that you are a person that was in jail and you just got realeased. You were there in the first place because you made a mistake in an act of stupididty. But, you have done your time, payed your price for what you done and now you’re out, a changed person, ready to start over. So, you are in the front yard of your new home when someone calls you scum, and tells you that they don’t want you to live anywhere near where you want to. The neighbourhood shuns you and treats you like filth. You decide that you want to get yourself a job to get you further in your life, so you apply for a job just to be turned down on the spot by the employer because of your criminal past. If you’ve done your time; do you deserve this?
Ladies & gentlemen, there are many people in Australian society today that are not even given a chance to show they’ve changed because they are ex-criminals. Now the key word here is “exâ€Â. Why should a person who has done their time and payed for their wrongdoings still be treated like a criminal when they get out? Even though they have done their time society sometimes gives them the life sentence.
In today’s prejudiced society many criminals are refused employment when they get out of jail because of their convicted past, and it is this reason that many criminals can’t help but fall back into their old routine to make a life for themselves. There seems to be this unwritten law that no one can hire someone with a criminal record in the last 7 years. And they will probably never get a decent job if it was a violent crime. So though they are given a chance to enter into society again, their options are really limited.
Just because someone was at an unstable stage at one point in their lives doesn’t' mean they stay that way and a lot of ex criminals become good people. Nearly every criminal has a motive behind committing a crime. They are either bored of their plain life and they want to have some excitement in it, they have a moment of stupidity and act on that, or because they are missing something that they really need and so they just take it. Sure there are some criminals that do it just for the fun of it, but if society thinks that about every criminal, they wont be giving the other ones a fair go.
Hey, no one is perfect in this world, god create human with flaws. Everyone makes mistakes. Some small enough to go unnoticed or some big enough to land them in jail. Last time I checked we are all humans, and all humans make mistakes, and most people learn from their mistakes and better themselves. But if a person is never forgiven for their mistake how are they supposed to move on and better themselves? Ex-criminals are people that, at one point in their life made a mistake. Weather it was purposeful or not, makes no difference, it was still a mistake. Have you ever made a mistake in your life? My answer is yes you have. You speak as though ex-criminals are a group of diseased outcast that should be quarantined or something. Accept them as human beings, because that's what they are.
Take the example of Dennis Ferguson as an example. He was convicted of child rape in 1987, so he served 14 years in prison. That’s 14 years to think about what he has done wrong and to become a better person. When he was released from jail he went to live his new life in suburban Brisbane. Upon hearing that he lived near them, the neighbourhood ordered protests to get him to leave. Here is an example of some of the protests:
[Play a Video]
As you can see, he is not being given a fair chance to get his life back on track. I doubt he will be able to get a job for some time if that is the way any employer thinks.
A 2001 study found that the only time there was a nationwide decline in crime rate was when there was a nationwide increase in employment. So if employers would just give ex-criminals a chance, they might become a good person. If society as a whole, would make ex-criminals feel like normal people and stop treating them as though they are still criminals, then maybe they would feel more secure about themselves and wouldn’t feel the urge to commit another crime.
Together we can help change the way people think to them, together we can give them a chance, together we can strive for a crime committing free future!
Do you think it's any good?
Any comments would be appreciated...
Even bad ones. [They would be appreciated more]
Do you think it's of grade 10 level or something?
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