Curiosity:
Good points.
I would like to add that it is not well known that we create non-citizens by the very process of the judicial system. Theoretically and actually, any citizen who has his rights removed is a non-citizen by definition of most constitutions. The constitution's purpose is to define the rights of a citizen. There is no definition of second class citizens in it, either you have full rights with full enjoyment of it's privledges or your a non-citizen.
A person with a criminal record and restrictions imposed on his activity is by definition a non-citizen. Forcing this constitutional travesty sets a dangerous precedent in today's terrorist world. Any terrorist could enlist any of these people on the grounds of their (mostly unrealized) state and that they have no moral bounds to abide by the country's law and that would be true.
It sets in motion another paradox. The post offender conscripted in war fights for lessor rights than his neighbour, and he does so in this non-citizen state. Restrictions to enlistment to the armed forces are hypocritically reinstated in war time, and seen by the benevolent society as a privledge to the offender, when in reality it wishes to take every measure to cover it's ass in this precarious position it finds itself. The offender is to put on hold all realities of his state to come to the aid of his society that offers so much. The thought of all these "non-citizens" walking the streets among their spouses while others in trenches defend their lessor rights is too much for society to bare. The enemy could just as well supply the rights that he could never hope to regain.
The remedy for this problem is simple. An offender should no longer be considered a write off, and the remedies applied seen as a process with a goal of restoring an offender's full status. All applications forced on an offending citizen should have a finite purpose, and that would include even execution if legal, finality in the true sense. A person should be considered corrected at some time in the process, and re-instated with full credentials and full rights restored.
All this is in keeping with Scripture and in the spirit of fraternal correction and the realization we are all fallible. It also mirrors the unital family, where the siblings who offend may be exiled(thrown out) , have privledges revoked, or any punitive measure applied. But one thing that never is considered, and that is the removal of his family name. He still remains as the "Smith" citizen in his family, and the family is too eager to see him return to the family unit.
There is a pardon process that a post-offender can apply for. It has an aura of vendetta around it and comes with a price tag of an astronomical price of over 300$, claimed to be "admin" fees, and comes with no guarantee of success. Nor does it do what it claims. It does not remove a person's file from the system, it just sends it further back into a more inconvenient drawer of that system. It is supposed to provide for a self imposed restriction of the judicial system that prevents it from acting out it's perpetual aggression to the offender, but does not do what he really would hope for, reconciliation. In a sense it only buys reprieve time.
AndyF
