A lot of it is an attitude problem, partially because of upbringing --or more correctly, lack of it --and there are undoubtedly inherently "bad" people with no conscience or "superego" who ought to be kept out of society.
But for those who've served their time, paid their debt, have "reformed," and want to continue with their lives as productive members of society, it's very difficult to get over that hump toward legal self-sufficiency when their records follow them forever, and every Tom, Dick, and Terry (and Human Resources Depatment) has access to correctional records on their computer.
Amusingly, the ad that appeared over Heavies' post was this one:

The "real" problem with all this is the simple fact that legal "punishments" have expanded "extra-legally," if you will, into a lifelong punishment sequence.
Every sentence has become a life sentence.This is not the way to restore a criminal as a useful member of society. As noted several times herein, this results in a high percentage of recidivism for the obvious reasons noted above.
The only solution as I see it is as I previously mentioned (see REF): a retraining stint, perhaps in the military, but wherever, expungement of records available to the public, a legal device to allow former inmates to "lie" about their records on things like employment applications, and a monitored --not "probation"
per se, but "mentored," if you will --period after release and re-training.
Wild idea? Crazy?
But repeatedly doing what doesn't work,
as with our present correctional system, is a popular definition of "crazy."
Terry, 230RN
REF:
http://2ahawaii.com/index.php?topic=2646.msg40967#msg40967