Felony and the closed doors
Jake Davis Jr. is in big trouble. He was driving a truck with a flat bed the night of October 30. His flat bed had no rear lights. It was a matter of seconds when Jakes truck crashed and killed a child, two adults and injured thirteen more people. Now, this 51 year old truck driver was charged with felony DUI (Driving under influence), because the truck was traveling so fast and Jake may have been drunk. (This case was reported by the Associated Press agency in
If Jake Davis were to be found guilty, the word felony would be the worst label for his life. That is because felony is, in the trucking field, the biggest impairment to get a job as a truck driver.
According to the FMCSA the safety regulations, a driver must not have felony convictions that include a vehicle, drugs, fatal crashes (deaths or injury consequences) on his or her record. Because of this safety restriction, it is virtually impossible to find a trucking company that has an open felony policy.
Usually, a truck driver will find in every application form the felony issue. Some companies ask for the numbers of offenses, the type and the most important: how long ago the felony happened. Depending of the fault, some companies admit drivers with a felony that happened five or ten years ago. But many others simply do not admit any felony convicted driver.
There is no way out. The companies are backed by the law. The severity of the law changes depending on the state, but there is no state that does not apply the federal principle of the Department of Transportation and its FMCSA. Companies also allege that the Canadian government does not permit any truck driver with criminal records on its roads. If a truck driver with this label crosses to
The schools for truck drivers have foreseen this danger and they will not admit felony records on their students. They also teach among the principles the importance of avoiding the felony situations. Actually, a company never will give such an expensive type of vehicle as a truck and the important freight to a driver who has been convicted or had troubles with the law because driving under influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI) in the lightest of the cases.
The stifling situation got worst since 9/11. The USA Patriot Act toughens the security regulation around the whole country, and especially in the transportation sector. For those who transport by land, one of the new requirements to obtain the hazmat endorsement is to have a clean criminal record.
With this disposition, the Patriot Act disqualifies all the drivers with felony convictions for murder, espionage, terrorism and explosive crimes. The disqualification does not make a difference on the age of the felony; older or newer, all are disqualified.
Crimes considered less serious such as the weapons offenses, property crimes, dishonesty, fraud or identity fraud, are obstacles if they did not happen seven years ago or the prison release was 5 years ago.
A fact surges from all these events. The ex-convicted person (not only the driver) is suffering discrimination and sees many closed doors to get back to a normal life. Some states do not admit this person to vote, to get professional licenses, to adopt a child, to sell alcohol or even to apply for Pell Grants, which is the most important federal loan program for students.
14 millions of Americans have crime records. 41% of the people released from prison are sent back in three years. But for the rest of the ex-convicts the open doors for a job are turning fewer.
There should be a plan of reinsertion to society as part of the correctional program. But the real world is something different. For the truck drivers who made a mistake in their past and want to come back to the road, there are few choices. If the felony is recent, he/she must wait for the time when the possibility to work again will open, or he/she must look for someone who would be willing to hire an ex-convict.
