Help Wanted — Sixty-Five Million Need Not Apply

And it's not only convicted criminals who suffer -- government cutbacks have public schools screaming for volunteers, but in AZ, at least, you can't even sit in a classroom and read to children, in full view of the teacher, if you have a criminal record. Meanwhile, nursing homes, hospitals and organizations like Big Brothers/Big Sisters are chronically understaffed because of punitive laws that place drug felons in the same banned class as convicted child abusers and thieves.