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The Pros And Cons Of Drug Offenders

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Many drug offenders are often forced into the drug business because of economic reasons, resulting from the increased difficulty of finding jobs after prison, due to the felony that is attached to their name. Employers are often discouraged from hiring a person that has committed a felony, because of the uncertainty in their behavior. A study done by the Urban Institute, found that only 45% of all Americans that had been to prison, had a job within a year of being released. It was even lower for drug offenders, as only 25% of all drug offenders in the United States were able to find a job once released (McVay). It’s hard enough finding a well paying job because of the current state of the economy in the United States. Drug offenders often spend most of their life in prison, and once they are released, they have no knowledge or skills pertaining to the real world. …show more content…

Many poor individuals in inner-city neighborhoods are often forced into the business. To truly understand what it means to be a drug offender forced into the business because of economic reasons, I turned to the documentary, “The House I Live In.” Cruz from the documentary, began selling drugs to support his parents, and when he started to become successful at it, he became addicted to the drugs. Cruz was a student before his parents ran into financial struggles. An innocent young adult that loved to play soccer, is now serving a 30 year sentence because he needed to help his parents pay their

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