by TChris

A New York Times editorial urges the State of Delaware to adopt a proposed law that would end the State's inflexible policy of denying occupational licenses to people who have been convicted of a felony. The proposed law would require a "substantial relationship" between the crime and the occupation, so that somebody convicted of (for instance) a felony trespass on government property during a demonstration would not, twenty years later, be denied a license as a landscape architect.

The proposed law only makes sense. People who have been punished, who have paid their debt to society, should be given a chance to reform. Society only benefits by allowing ex-offenders to become productive. As the Times argues, ending these "senselessly punitive bans" makes it easier for reformed offenders to stay on a path that keeps them out of prison.