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> As a society, we approve of jail being the mechanism to "forgive" a person's crime.

That's not what 99% society believes. The vast majority of regular people (go on the street and talk to any random person, I guarantee you this is what they'll say) will say that life-time ostracizing is actually part of the sentence. They honestly believe that once you commit a felony, anything bad that happens to you for the rest of your life is fair game. They pretty much believe that the official jail sentence is only the beginning, and that even in jail if you get killed it's pretty fair because you were already one of those criminal-types anyway, so oh well no big loss. I've met so many people in jail who were hardened into a life of crime because of the us-vs-them attitude they've been faced with since young adults and even as teenagers, simply because they made one mistake early on, and now they're labeled and discriminated against even by judges and their own lawyers, let alone citizens. People want there to be rehabilitation and re-entry into society, and there are programs out there, but none of them are actually effective (trust me), and the vast majority of society don't want them to be effective. So everything is status quo.

Thanks for the advice. It may come down to working at a factory and moving my family to the slums so we can afford to live. In fact that's looking more and more likely. We have only enough money for April, and based on my calls today there's pretty much no chance I'll get a job and a paycheck before May.

You're thinking under the assumption that there's no corruption in the judicial system, and also that every judge and jury and attorney intend to act for the good of every individual person, rather than for some other agenda. That's the kind of naivety I had too. That's not how the world works. The world is a horrifyingly evil place.

I posted about my situation and difficulty finding a job on another social media website, and a commenter wrote "Those lists exist for a reason. You made your bed now sleep in it." That's literally what the public thinks they're for, as a permanent form of discrimination and condemnation to prevent people like me from having a job or a good life. It's meant to keep us down all our lives.

If that's what the voting public thinks it's for, then for all practical purposes, that's sure as hell what it's actually for.

Their hope is that maybe they'll be able to change the future for the better by making an example of someone, even if they have to be excessive, cruel, or unjust toward that person. They're justifying the means by the hoped end.

The US criminal system isn't meant to rehabilitate, and a corrections officer told me that directly once (after I asked for a Bible and he said no).

It's only meant to provide the public with a false sense of security. "Another scumbag has been locked up, key's been thrown away, you're all safe once again. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

But it's okay because people are easily forgettable. If you have 100 people on a block, and 1 is taken away unjustly, you still have 99 who can quickly forget about that 1, provided they're distracted with enough beer, books, movies and memes.

I know C#, learned it over winter break a few years ago, but have not used it for 3+ years in a professional setting. That's the issue. Even if I try to make hobby apps with it, nobody will hire me for a job using it. Unless I look for entry-level jobs, but even then a recent college grad is a better choice than me.

Since November I have applied at every type of job: silicon valley start-ups with just a few people, software consulting firms with a dozen or two dozen consultants, and large corporations like GS. Initially GS told me the felony wouldn't be an issue, made me an offer, and dragged me along for about 4 weeks after that, reassuring me the job was a sure thing. Only this morning they changed their mind out of nowhere. Otherwise I wouldn't have wasted so much time with them, as I was up-front with them early on.

I have several years of experience but it's all niche or outdated tech, hard to find jobs in it even without the felony.

I've been applying since November and I've run out of money and time, April is the last month we can afford, and interview processes can last weeks. There's like a 5% chance I'll get a job during this time which is why I came here for help. I did get several good pointers from people and am going to follow them. But my programming knowledge is between junior and intermediate despite my experience, since somehow I end up always getting hired by companies that want to do things the weird way instead of the normal way, so I barely have any experience doing any programming the "normal" way. You know, I've always said I want to quit the programming field and just work in a factory, maybe this is my chance.

It is a misdemeanor, but a second offense turns it into a felony automatically. My lawyer could not get it back down to a misdemeanor. I am utterly and completely screwed.

I do have a small portfolio website (can't show it here because it'll give away my name and the harassment will start) and it was mentioned in a few interviews, but it's not really good enough to show off for independent consulting.

Oh, also I should mention, my crime was in 4 major local newspapers, and those online news articles are the first 4 results of googling my name. So it's not really something I can hide, at all.

For that I would need references (I have none), a good portfolio (I have none), or the ability to start off making almost no money (my family would starve).