I have an old misdemeanor battery conviction (let's just say the "battered" party was a huge, pumped-on on steroids male 3 times bigger than me, who assaulted and grabbed me leaving giant bruises--and I spit on his sleeve for that I got battery charge. That person just happened to have the right buddies). They only got me to plea no contest because public defender didn't care and wanted to quickly be done, and promised "full dismissal" if I accept the deal and plea no contest. But California "dismissal" is nothing... it stays on record forever.
I decided not to fight and try to get nursing or occupational therapist degree, even though this would have been my dream....I see people posting even with felony backgrounds and being advised to keep fighting and find school that accepts them. Well, if someone already got a degree and especially is tied by student loans, surely they better fight. But otherwise, I think an advice to "pursue your dream" is very dangerous and worthless. Nobody in this world cares about "your passion for nursing"--you get branded as a criminal for life and since that moment you get a conviction, it begins to define you, if you're in certain occupation.
I believe one should NOT fight and try to pursue school in nursing with background problems.
So, far, laws had been only tightening and the means to check backgrounds (electronic means) had been getting more perfected. Databases grow and grow to accumulate every minor offense, to make it visible to everyone.
Should we expect laws to relax? NO. The economy will not be recovering--anyone with brains had already figured it out; on a long run, economy will be going downhill and competition for jobs will be fierce--do you think people with criminal backgrounds will be given more chances in medicine? No, not really. Quite the opposite. Also, I expect the state rules to become more strict. It will make sense for them, as with economic problems and no money to fund healthcare, the competition for these jobs will be high and there will be no shortage. Even if there's shortage--they can always import foreign nurses, that's what they had been doing. Some states have more relaxed rules right now, but I fully expect them to catch up with the rest; this had been general tendency with all states.
Even if you eventually get a job... you'll have to live in fear of being extra scrutinized or even accused of things, because they know of your background; will possibly expect to be the first one to be to laid off, etc. Plus, the need to expose your past to strangers all the time and explain that you're not an elephant, while it's you who's often the victim in these "crimes", even though you got convicted. Always being looked down by "goody toe" ones who think they're better than you because they have no record, being put down, humiliated, having your dirty laundry exposed every time, denied--this truly is poison to life. That's why I think people shouldn't make a reckless decision to invest years of life into school and end up in debt they likely can not pay off.
