Would You Hire Someone with a Felony? Our Poll Reveals a Complex Truth About Second Chances. [Blog Post]

Written by: Stanley Perret - Dad, Veteran, Author, and Convicted Felon

June 2, 2025

Would You Hire Someone with a Felony? 

A Poll Reveals a Complex Truth About Second Chances

Every day, people return home from prison hoping for a fresh start. They’ve served their time, often under grueling conditions, and are now looking for an opportunity, not a handout, but a chance to contribute, to rebuild, and to belong again.

I recently asked a simple but powerful question: If you owned a business, would you hire someone with a felony or who had just gotten out of prison?

997 people responded. Here’s how they answered:

• 29% said yes, they would

• 28% said no, they would not

• 8% said they would absolutely

• 34% said it would depend on the felony

At first glance, this breakdown may seem encouraging: 37% of respondents are open to hiring someone with a criminal record, and another third are willing to consider it based on the specifics. That’s nearly 7 in 10 people who aren't categorically saying "no."

But dig a little deeper, and the numbers reveal a more sobering truth. Only 8%, less than 1 in 10 answered with full conviction that they would absolutely give that person a chance. Nearly as many outright said no, and the largest group 34% qualified their answer with uncertainty, hinging their willingness on the nature of the felony.

This says a lot about who we are as a society.

We talk often about redemption, about learning from mistakes, about giving people the chance to grow. Yet when faced with the real-world implications like hiring someone with a criminal record our comfort wavers. We want change, but only when it’s neat, packaged, and fits within our own sense of safety.

To be clear, concerns about certain crimes are valid. Business owners have every right to consider the impact of hiring someone with a serious criminal background. Trust, safety, and reputation matter. But here’s the difficult question: If we only hire the "safe" ones, who gets the true second chance?

The encouraging part is that society is shifting. The fact that nearly 40% of people responded positively or emphatically is a signal of progress. The stigma is slowly lifting. But slowly isn’t fast enough for the thousands of people every year who walk out of prison only to face another kind of sentence: rejection.

Second chances are not abstract, they’re deeply human.

They’re the difference between someone falling back into survival mode or stepping forward into purpose. Between re-offend and reintegration. Between feeling disposable or feeling seen.

As individuals, as business owners, as a community, we have a choice. Not everyone deserves blind trust, but everyone deserves the possibility of redemption.

So, would you hire someone with a felony?

Your answer may shape more than just a resume. It might help rewrite someone’s future.

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