In the State of Missouri, our laws are such that convicted felons don't get the same chance in  employment . It us an unfair assumption that a convicted felon can not be good employees in all realms of the workforce. There need to be better guidelines on background checks, how far back they can go. Does an employer have the right to look so far back in a person's life ? 

  With all the racial movement we've seen  discrimination goes far deeper than that. If we as a society want a change , we have to help our society continue to reform. And with that said , just a prison sentence thinking that is where reform happens is not the case. The stigma due to background checks for a felon makes it hard to continue on a path to succeed. 

 I am 52, made poor mistakes years ago, served my time, paid my dues, have education, however, my convictions stop me from reaching full potential in the workforce. At the present time, I am living in a pandemic, have exhausted unemployment benefits . One year ago , my Significant other, was diagnosed with leukaemia. I had no other option but to step up and be his only caretaker. It is a 24/7 job, however I thought it would be a great opportunity to take advantage of Missouri Medicaid program and be his paid caretaker. I was shut down because of my convictions. My boyfriend defiantly knows of my past and wants no other caretaker. I do it without pay anyway. However, this petition is only the start of my fight for equality for felons. I'm not one that is for every type of felonies. Sexual or violent in nature should be looked at in a closer manner. But not everybody deserves to always live in the past especially after serving their time. I feel like after a certain number of years we deserve to have it drop off our records. We deserve equal opportunity to work .