Person standing next to you in line at Shoprite or ex-convict?

One of the strangest things that Life on the Outside by Jennifer Gonnerman has brought up is the fact that although we don’t realize it, America is entrenched by ex-convicts. In my opinion this is a very scary issue because the fact that someone has gone to prison means that they have done something terribly wrong at some point in their life. I can take into consideration that some people are thrown into jail for reasons that would have nothing to do with my safety or well being or for no reason at all, but the reality of murderers, racists, and drug dealers surrounding me on a daily basis freaks me out. While reading, I came across the statistic that about seven percent of Americans are ex-convicts. To think about it in more of a relative context, at least seven people on the floor you live on or the floor above you will statistically become ex-convicts. So although that statistic seems so small, in a real life perspective, it gets a lot larger. The one problem I have with our system is the fact that they let people out of jail earlier than they deserve. I can understand that these people get out early because they have behaved well and done whatever has been asked of them, but they should understand that the actions they took had consequences. It seems quite ridiculous that our system will tell a prisoner that they are getting a twenty years sentence but then later on, let them out five years early. Wasn’t there a reason that the sentence was so long to start with? I feel like in this aspect, the government isn’t hard enough on the people and not strict enough at all. It makes us seem very passive while we should be agressive so that we can effectively hinder crime, not promote it. Especially when you think about people such as rapists. There is a reason why sex offenders are registered, because you never know when they will strike again. Someone who has gone to prison obviously has an altered state of mentality and even if they beg and plead or act well in hopes of forgiveness, it does not reverse what they have done. We should probably be more aware of our surroundings because it’s not like prisoners who have gotten out of jail are congregated in one large city, they are all around us on a daily basis. That is why you never know whether the person standing next to you in line is just a normal person or a former convict.