Screwed Over Twice

Do you ever really pay what you owe? No seriously, think about it from the viewpoint of a person who is a convicted felon or someone with a record. When do you pay your debt to society and when are you completely free from the crime that you have committed. For most it would seem that serving a sentence and having to live with a record would be enough punishment to endure, but at what point does the punishment end? Many criminals get out after serving time and when it comes to filling out an application or applying for federal aid or even registering to vote, they are subjected to societal punishment all over again. Personally, I feel that this plight continually keeps many people from being rehabilitated and becoming positive assets to society. How can they learn from their mistakes and move on, when at every turn they are being judged and held back or looked down upon because of what they have done? When do we as a society say that we accept that they have paid for their crime and give them another chance to do the right thing and get their act together? I don't think that criminals deserve our complete sympathy, because they chose to act in the manner that caused them to get incarcerated and obtain a criminal record, but I do feel that at some point we need to stop judging them and attempt to give them another chance or at least a benefit of the doubt that they will not  mess up again. Unfortunately, many criminals, frustrated by the lack of support, the added struggle they must endure and the permanent stigma, resort to the same activities and continue the same vicious cycle. this is most evident in the Black community where crime is rampant and excessive judicial punishment is slowly destroying our people as a whole. In order for society to even begin to repair itself, we must be willing to genuinely lend a helping hand to our brother and be the last to judge our fellow man. If  the past is truly the past, why do we insist on continuing to bring it up and use it against one another? If they did the crime, and did the time, shouldn't that be enough, must they really be screwed over twice?