What Exactly Is Marriage?

[for_his_glory]

Is it wise to be marrying a convicted felon?

Excuse me, but my husband has a felony charge against him even though he was innocent of his actions and even though the person who brought up charges against him withdrew there complaint the state of PA picked up those charges and he had to spend time in jail. This was before I knew him. While in jail he found the Lord and when he got out he got a job right away and now twenty years later he has a good paying job and never finished high school either. BTW a felony charge stays on your records forever unless you pay to have it removed, which he never had to do.

 

[reba]

Generally speaking being a felon is not a plus when 'looking' for a spouse ... Each case is different.. and maturity of the parties matters.. God forgives we can too. lets not get personal...

 

[for_his_glory]

I was only replying to a fact and there were no intentions of it being personal. It's just that many people who see those who are in jail are throw away type people and that I do take offense to as I use to think that way before I began doing prison ministry and sat one on one with murders, thieves and even rapist as I saw them turn their lives around after finding Christ even though they are in for life. Many do get married while being incarcerated and are mighty witnesses for Christ as they reach out to other inmates and hold Bible studies together.

 

[reba]

Some felonies in CA are removed from records ... S-i-L and daughter's record do not show the felonies .. My guess there are different degrees of felonies

 

[for_his_glory]

Some felonies in CA are removed from records ... S-i-L and daughter's record do not show the felonies .. My guess there are different degrees of felonies

Yes, there are different degrees, but yet a felony. Sorry, back to topic as I can get carried away with this topic

 

[GodsGrace]

I have a question on this most interesting subject because it demonstrates how we each make up our own rules and still call ourselves Christian.

What's the difference between this type of committed thing, including intimacy,
and me having this same intimacy with some guy I really love even though I'm married and really love my husband too.

Where does the sin end?? Or begin??

 

[Anne Hartung]

Some felonies in CA are removed from records ... S-i-L and daughter's record do not show the felonies .. My guess there are different degrees of felonies

?? off topic question: Do US authorities record my parent`s or husband`s felonies in my record (ok, the major ones)???
Like "is married to a drug dealer" or so?

 

[Runner]

?? off topic question: Do US authorities record my parent`s or husband`s felonies in my record (ok, the major ones)???
Like "is married to a drug dealer" or so?

No. Even obtaining criminal record history information about the felon himself is no easy task. When I was a lawyer in zoning enforcement in a county prosecutor's office, I could not obtain criminal record history information from the state or national databases about the property owner because my use (zoning enforcement) was not a "law enforcement purpose." By state statute in my state, a public employer could not even consider an applicant's felony record as a negative in a hiring decision unless the felony was directly related to the job duties.

A sex offender is a different story. They typically are required to register, notify the registry when they move, and their names and addresses are publicly available. Many states also have a site called something like "Public Access to Court Information" where anyone can plug in anyone else's name and see the bare bones of his or her court record, civil and criminal. I could see that someone had been divorced twice, pled guilty to five traffic violations, been charged but found not guilty of rape, and been convicted of armed robbery - but I would not see any of the details

There are felonies and then there are FELONIES. In my state, there are six class of felonies, ranging from pretty silly (campaign finance violations) to rape and murder. "He's a felon" tells you almost nothing about someone - there has been a tendency over the past 25 years to define all sorts of election, political and business "crimes" as felonies, which is why virtually every major political figure has opponents screaming from the peanut gallery that he should be "charged with multiple felonies." The vast majority of minor felonies are pled down to misdemeanors if the defendant is at all cooperative, precisely because the consequences of a felony conviction are so draconian. For a young person to be sentenced to prison for a first felony, you'd have to be talking about a fairly serious felony and/or an uncooperative defendant who refused to plea bargain.

If I had a daughter engaged to a felon in prison, the fact that he says he is innocent would be irrelevant. I would want him to obtain copies of the full criminal file and share them with us.

But anyway, the fact that someone is married to someone who was previously convicted of a major felony is irrelevant to the criminal justice system, If there were suspicion that the felon were still involved in criminal activity, then the spouse might of course be under observation as well. But otherwise, the system doesn't care that Marina was married to Lee Harvey.

 

[Christ_empowered]

I was charged with a felony. Because my dad was kind enough to get me a skilled lawyer, I ended up w./ a serious ('Class a') misdemeanor, suspended sentence, probation. And yet...

people around me are forever yelling about "warrants," "prison," "probation violations," FELONIES!, etc. I think that's the big thing about a felony...it helps create something of a permanent, stigmatized under-class. In my case, I guess no one's done a real background check? To be fair, I tried to do one on my self, thru the state law agency, and...it said my records weren't in the computer. Odd.

I think its worse in more "conservative" areas, which is odd...because we/they often have higher crime rates, more poverty, etc. Here where I live, -very- few charges can be expunged (erased). They don't seal records, as far as I know; its either expunge or you're stuck with it. Right now, there are some law makers pushing to expand the sort of charges that can be expunged (here's hoping that happens...), but of course, they're getting a push back from some law enforcement people, and other "tough on crime," lock em up and throw away the key people, etc.

but...yeah...in my case, just the assumption that I have a felony has created some problems for me. If I'd gotten stuck with the felony I'd been charged with...ugh. outlook not so good, I'm afraid. I thank God for His mercy.

 

[Anne Hartung]

Thank you, runner, for explaining .