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Thomas Bartscher's avatar

My experience is counter to what you posit. Most of the people who where assholes when they were kids are actually pretty decent human beings now.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

1) Employers can't take a rational account of the risks that a felon poses, because they must signal to clients and employees that they have a safe environment. Third parties can't be bothered to do an accurate assessment; they rely on noisy signals.

2) Hiding all childhood records and making public all adult ones is bad. Suppose 17-year-old Joe commits an awful crime, while 18-year-old Mark commits a petty crime. Mark may be screwed for life; Joe escapes unscathed.

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