Pardons Can Reduce Crime In Depressed Neighborhoods

By

Sherman N. Miller

5/3/1988　

 The electronic media is full of stories about youth gang killings. These killings are a national disgrace. They suggest that America's civic leadership does not understand the plight of America's poor.

A former welfare recipient is a story that supports my lack of understanding of the poor case. This lady developed her skills to where she worked into a good job at a multinational corporation. She has even won a Directors Award for excellence in job performance at this corporation.

This lady says she was taking a college course where the professor asked that they write on America's welfare system. A young fellow read his paper where he stated that all welfare people were black and lazy. This former welfare lady was the only black person in this class so she felt compelled to straighten out this young man's story.

She purportedly sprung to her feet and climbed all over this young fellow. The college professor made the young fellow apologize to her before the class.

As we talked about the seriousness of this incident, we both felt sick to the stomach. We knew that this young fellow was merely reflecting his parental training. We also knew that his parents are America's civic leaders.

On the other hand, this story highlights that HOPE is the missing ingredient in America's poverty stricken communities. I spent many childhood years in public housing projects so I can attest to the importance of hope in fostering one's upward mobility struggle. It is the one attribute that makes people strive to break poverty's shackles.

Our forefathers recognized the importance of maintaining hope if America is to prosper. They instituted a pardon system for crimes against society. The pardon system offers ex-offenders an opportunity to get their records expunged so they may become integrated back into the economic mainstream.

I once started to pursuit the office of Lt. Governor of the State of Delaware because I firmly believe crime be reduced by reinstituting hope in depressed neighborhoods. The Delaware's Lt. Governor is the chairperson of the State's Pardon Board.

The chances of a person growing up in America's ghettoes without being involved with the law are small. My dream was to reduce recidivism amongst ex-offenders by judicially using the pardon system to offer them an opportunity to obtain meaningful jobs. In Delaware this is especially critical considering the state has become a banking haven where many good jobs are jobs-of-trust.

Integrating ex-offenders into the economic mainstream will also prevent poor children from adopting hardened criminals as their role models. I, therefore, challenge political office seekers, with responsibility for administering pardon systems, to come forth with plans to make the pardon process an upward mobility tool in America's depressed communities.