That's kinda what I'm saying. It's not all "pretend" either. It's a goal, just not one we're willing to devote any resources towards. It's worth pointing out the difference. We want ex-cons to get jobs, just not working with us. It's the "not my problem" culture that is the USA.

I don't think that example you gave is a flaw in the logic. We don't know when people are rehabilitated, and there's reasons for having minimum sentences, whether you agree with them or not.

The greater issue in my opinion is that we do a bunch of stuff to create this illusion of safety for the public (and businesses), and we're not willing to budge to give people a chance. We very reluctantly pass laws that clear some peoples records if they're young enough and haven't done anything so terrible... and that's if you're lucky.

Disenfranchisement should be an exception for people that are likely highly-dysfunctional, not a general purpose solution. A new despised underclass to place a substantial percentage of the population. Seems dystopian to me.