The Last Chance Corps: Death, Extreme Risk, and a Proposed Means of Redemption for the Unsavory Element

There is nothing inherently wrong with punishment, even of the most brutal sort, but we must offer those who have erred the chance to redeem themselves if we expect them to be anything other than habitual criminals and lifelong burdens on society. Sacrifice is the road that leads from person disgraced to citizen restored.

The Problem

In the United States, 8 percent of the overall population have felony convictions and far more have criminal records of some form. Not all these people have served prison time — pre-trial diversion and probation are relatively common for certain crimes — but that is not to say they escaped punishment or that they are not being punished still.

More than 60 percent of employers check arrest and conviction records for all potential employees, with most indicating that an arrest record even if charges were dismissed or the person was acquitted at trial reduces the likelihood of hiring a candidate. And a criminal conviction of any kind diminishes the chances of receiving a job offer by half.

A felony conviction is almost certain to have a more significant effect, with felons being barred from a great many professions. We may have reason enough to prevent a convicted murderer from running a daycare center. But restrictions do not end there. Depending upon the state, a felon may be forbidden from becoming an acupuncturist, an athletic trainer, a boxer, a massage therapist, a psychologist, a radiographer, a social worker, a veterinarian, or any one of many other professions. And without expungement (a complex, expensive, and inconsistently available process) or pardon, this disability rarely goes away. There is no cure. Convicted felons face other constraints on voting rights, housing access, and international travel.

This is the punishment after the punishment. And to a certain extent, we can do little about it. Arrest records, including those officially expunged or sealed, may show up on certain private databases years after the fact. And asking the public to forgive and overlook convictions — to hire, to rent to, or to keep the company of identified criminals without bias or discrimination — is as absurd as it is unnatural. Americans are not a particularly forgiving people. And there is no good reason for them to be.

There are few more miserly in their compassion than those who wear their humanity on their sleeves. Loves mankind, hates the individual — most of us know the type. And even the most allegedly compassionate amongst us appear unable to look past an ill-worded tweet from one’s teen years. Felons face poorer odds still.

Forgiveness is the wrong route — it relies upon grace, which is neither consistent in its application nor very likely to be sustainable for any length of time. The age of bleeding hearts and short prison sentences has come and gone, and that era — running through a portion of the 1970s — was not one to which very many would want to return.

And forgiveness is worse still in that it does not restore respect — the currency of social interactions, be they of a personal or economic nature. Those who can and do forgive may well find that they cannot respect those they have forgiven. And this — a lack of respect — is a debility and punishment of another form that can be deeply traumatic and discouraging to the personality and psyche of the disrespected.

There is also the tendency of some to confuse a soft heart with a soft head or a weak will — to assume that those predisposed to forgiveness are suckers, simps, or simply stupid. For these people, every act of forgiveness that benefits them is proof positive that they are just a bit smarter (and more adept at manipulation) than the granter of forgiveness

Finally, there is the corrosiveness of groveling. The courts are filled with sorry souls — they are sorry for their crimes, their sins, their drinking, their mismanagement of money, and their neglect of their children. The better part of them are sorry for themselves most of all. And they are forever seeking forgiveness. Jesus, Mohammed, Yahweh, judges, and victims — please, please, please forgive me! Show me compassion!

Blah, blah blah . . .

This — the sad melodrama of repentance and mercy — hurts begged and beggar alike. With each scene of this fools’ play, the beggar grows ever more manipulative and insincere and the begged grows more contemptuous. And by the time it is all over, everyone involved is stained in heart and spirit.

So what is to be done? If the path of forgiveness only leads to cynicism, what can take us where we want and need to go — to the way of restored and productive citizens?

The Solution: The Last Chance Corps

Rather than forgiveness, mercy, or punishment without end, let us consider a fourth option: That those who have violated the social contract be given means to voluntarily earn their restoration — not only of their rights but also of a fair measure of respect.

This cannot be easy. By needs, it must be hard, exceedingly hard. Rights can be reacquired by legislation, by pardon, or by official forgetting (the destruction of formal documentation), but respect is another matter. This is where sacrifice comes into play. With sufficient misery, risk, and contributions to the welfare of society, those who are less than zero may never be made heroes, but they can be cleansed of their sins in a purgatory of careful and useful design.

I propose that we, the American people, by way of our government, establish a group — the Last Chance Corps — that affords almost any American the hope of a clean slate. Debt; minor or serious criminal convictions; civil and criminal judgments, penalties, and fees owed; back taxes (anything except for sex crimes involving children) all is erased after sufficient time and honorable service in the LCC.

The Process: LCC Induction, Experience, and Benefits

1) Any American citizen wishing to be free from his or her past applies to the LCC and provides complete documentation of debt owed; criminal convictions; unpaid fines, support obligations, and judgments; back taxes; and the nature of any punishment received (duration, correctional facility where served, etc.).

2) The appropriate official in the LCC verifies all records and checks for outstanding warrants and ongoing criminal investigations. If the applicant is found to be neither a suspect, wanted, nor a perpetrator of sex crimes against children, he (or she) can advance to induction.

3) The nature of the LCC, the work it does, the rights surrendered by those who join the LCC, and the specific benefits one receives for serving in the LCC and how and when those benefits are awarded — these are explained to the inductee.

4) The inductee undergoes training, becomes an LC Corpsman, and is assigned whatever tasks are deemed to be suitable to the abilities of the person and necessary for the improvement of the nation.

5) The term of service, of at least five years but no more than 15 years, begins.

Terms, Benefits, and Limitations of Service

The terms of service

1) Any person who joins the LCC waives completely and perpetually the right to make any civil or criminal claim against the LCC.

2) Any person who joins the LCC surrenders all property, rights to inheritance, and rights of name and identity to the LCC.

3) The LCC retains the absolute right to assign any member any task of any form that is deemed to be to the public benefit, regardless of risk to the safety, survival, or sanity of the inductee.

4) Refusal to obey any valid order by the designated officers or commanders of the LCC shall result in punishments to be determined by the LCC, with no recourse to the ordinary courts or military tribunals. Refusal may also result in dismissal from the LCC and loss of any benefits derived from service. No surrendered property shall be returned to the dismissed LC Corpsman.

5) The benefits of joining the LCC do not come to maturity until the term of service is honorably completed.

6) The duration of the inductee’s term of service is determined by the LCC and based upon the severity of crimes committed/amount of money owed and judgments unpaid.

The benefits of service

1) Food, clothing, housing, and rudimentary healthcare are provided by the LCC.

2) A one-time payment of between 25,000 and 75,000 dollars (to be periodically adjusted for inflation), depending upon the length of service, is awarded to those who fulfill their service obligation to the LCC.

3) A new identity is provided upon honorable completion of service.

The limitations of service

1) No member of the LCC will have any discretion in the labor assigned to him (or her).

2) No member of the LCC will have any rights to freedom of movement, religion, or speech/communications for the duration of the service agreement.

3) No member of the LCC will have any protection under labor or safety regulations that apply to civilians or the military.

4) No member of the LCC will receive excuse or pardon from future criminal conduct, debts, or tortuous actions.

The Takeaway

The Last Chance Corps would offer a new identity and 5,000 dollars per year to those who serve in it.

In exchange for this, the LCC inductee would be required to surrender, at the time of acceptance to the LCC, everything from his or her old life. Upon successful completion of the member’s service, the LC Corpsman is simply declared dead by the federal government. No debts, obligations, judgments, criminal investigations, or convictions may follow the LC Corpsman from one life to the next. Nor do any academic or professional records, rights to inheritance, or intellectual property.

This is a clean slate in the strictest sense. Those who wish to start anew (and are willing to sacrifice for the opportunity to do so) have their second chance at life, but picking and choosing what shall be kept and what shall be discarded is something the LC Corpsman cannot do.

An Ideal: Tough but Fair

“Way I see it, that’s because you’re tough, but you’re fair. You’re all about justice.” 

“Mijo,” Better Call Saul (Gould & MacLaren, 2015)

This proposal is not overly lenient. Such is a matter of necessity. We must establish to all — victims, creditors, courts, prosecutors, the public, and (most of all) perpetrators themselves — that the LCC offers neither forgiveness nor mercy. Instead, it offers a chance for one to earn a fresh start. And the person who does so is no more beholden to society than would be any other free man or woman.

Next, two critical questions: 1) What sort of work could an LC Corpsman be assigned? 2) What should the LC Corpsman be expected to do to prove himself/herself?

Extraordinarily high-risk military and security work come to mind — the things so dicey no civilized nation would ever ask an ordinary soldier to do — but one should not focus on this option to the exclusion of others. We only need so many soldiers, expendable or otherwise. And war for the sake of amusement and folly only destabilizes a nation and puts her at odds with her peers.

Consider these eight alternatives to martial service. They are but a few of the many possible opportunities for deliverance by blood and suffering:

1) Forest, mine, and industrial firefighting

2) Construction and maintenance work in ultra-hazardous environments (decaying weirs, levees, ordinary dams, or anywhere water and electricity are likely to meet)

3) Fast-track pharmaceutical testing

4) Cleaning and restoration of extremely polluted environments, including ones contaminated with radiation

5) Disassembly of weapons of mass destruction

6) The unarmed tracking and capture of bloodthirsty fugitives

7) Engaging in last-chance search and rescue operations

8) Nearly suicidal undercover investigative work

Many would be injured when performing these tasks, and some would die. That is to be expected. This incumbent risk is what would make service in the LCC worthy of respect. The hazards, harms, and losses of life that occur in the LCC must be well-publicized so that the public, members of the legal community, and any inclined to join the LCC understand that it does not grant favors. It only affords an opportunity to the most determined.

Obstacles and Objections to Implementation

First, we must acknowledge that some who honorably serve in the LCC will return to their lives of debt, crime, and debauchery. This cannot be prevented. And we, as a people, must be willing to accept some possibility of relapse. There are no completely foolproof means of rehabilitation. If we insist on total certainty, we will deny the worthiest and least worthy alike the chance to redeem themselves.

Second, there is the chance that some crimes will go unpunished. As this proposal stands, the honorably discharged LC Corpsman is rewarded for his or her service with the death of the prior legal person. Any crimes and liabilities committed or incurred by the dead are without much in the way of remedy. Stated simply: One cannot prosecute the deceased. One can sue the estate of the deceased. And an estate would exist — with the LCC being the executor and sole beneficiary — but beyond that, the aggrieved would have little remedy.

This is a legitimate concern. Yet the benefits of the LCC to the majority of those who survive their service and to the public at large will outweigh this risk. A great many of those in need of liberation from their records and reputations — the ideal recruits — have more than one illegal action in their pasts. Most Americans, including those who have never been questioned by police, have committed a crime (and quite possibly more than one felony). Without providing closure on their histories, few candidates would have much incentive to join the LCC.

And the public would lose great advantages as well. American infrastructure is collapsing, endangering lives and livelihoods ever more by the day. There is extraordinarily unsafe work to be done to keep a society powered by high-energy fuel sources, heavy equipment, and noxious chemicals running. Our current techniques for containing and removing pollutants are not without their perils either. And in future times of pandemic — pandemics with the potential to be far more dangerous than that of 2020 — expediency may dictate that vaccines and post-infection treatments that have undergone only the most limited animal testing be evaluated through human trials. These are the areas in which the LCC stands to offer society the most.

The greatest single obstacle to the establishment of the LCC is the United States Constitution. The extent to which a person may surrender his rights has yet to be fully tested. Even if a parallel system of justice is implemented that is unique to the LCC, it might be expected to observe some legal and constitutional norms, much as the military is expected to honor (to a limited extent) some constitutional rights under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Seeking easily reversed Supreme Court decisions is not the optimal method to ensure that the LCC be allowed to operate with the latitude it requires to be effective. One could make an argument for consent — that those who join the LCC consent to the loss of their rights and thus have no redress — but this is a legally uncertain line of argument at best. Particularly if the courts find agreements between the inductee (including an agreement to submit to the LCC tribunals) to be unconscionable, the LCC will be neutered.

A better approach is a constitutional amendment giving the LCC extraordinary leeway to operate as it sees fit. This would proactively nullify any constitutional attacks and would allow the LCC and its policies to stand on a sure footing. Additionally, an LCC amendment could establish the right of the LCC to declare a person legally dead and could compel creditors, investigators, and the state and federal courts to honor this declaration.

Constitutional amendments are not easily had, nor should they be, but the LCC and its benefits to those in need of redemption and society itself would make improving America’s foundational legal document worth the effort.

Finally, there is the problem of uncovered identities — the discovery of the last-life legal personality of an honorably discharged LC Corpsman. This is not only possible, but increasingly likely with advancements in facial recognition, mass surveillance, and genetic testing. Yet that does not negate the benefits or purpose of the LCC. It does not change the legal standing of the new person. And the almost unbearably grueling and consistently miserable experience of surviving (or attempting to survive) a term of service in the LCC should allow the LC Corpsman to gain the respect of most, even if his former self is revealed.

Sensible Limits and Moderate Protections

While a great many LC Corpsmen will be maimed or killed in the line of duty, the majority need to survive for the program to attract a significant number of participants. Rather than burdening the LCC with specific safety regulations, the government should simply place certain reasonable limits on total permanent injuries and deaths suffered by LC Corpsmen. The exact upper limit is open to debate, but one can look to Romans and their idea of decimation (literally, removal of a tenth) for a very general idea of how much death is too much death.

Ideally, no more than 10 percent of LC Corpsmen should die in the line of duty, and not many more should be permanently disabled. As for the potential cost of the last — paying for those who have been harmed during their service — the simplest and most economical route is to declare that injuries incurred while a member of the LCC do not make one eligible for state or federal benefits. This condition could be included in the LCC amendment.

A sensible and humane alternative to conventional disability compensation would be to provide LC Corpsmen seriously, permanently, and unwillingly injured payment for the portion of their time served and the same legal death and rebirth offered to those who have completed the entirety of their contracts. The conditional of the previous sentence — unwillingly — is critical, as some LC Corpsmen might find the incentive to injure themselves in exchange for a shorter contract (and the attendant benefits) too great to ignore.

The Path Forward

Without focused effort and dedication, the LCC and the opportunity for renewal and respect it would provide disgraced, debt-ridden, and criminal Americans will forever remain a fantasy. But inertia is not inevitable. All that this proposal offers is an incomplete skeleton of a complex and novel organization. The organs, flesh, and hair remain undeveloped.

Probably the closest the LCC has to an ancestor is the French Foreign Legion, which allows inductees to take assumed names and offers those wounded in action the immediate opportunity to become French by virtue of spilt blood (Français par le sang verse.). LC Corpsmen are offered a similar chance at atonement, but one should not overstate how much the LCC and the Légion étrangère have in common. And the traditions, customs, and proven practices of the L.É. are likely to serve as poor patterns for the organization and discipline of the LCC.

Thus, we end at the beginning — the beginning of a serious consideration as to how and to what extent absolution can and should be earned in our society, how much one can (and should) sacrifice for respect, and how those in need of a chance to prove their worth and society at large can come to a sustainable and mutually beneficial agreement.

And there is another beginning still — one in which others take the initiative to further develop the ideas herein, to share them, and to encourage their peers to consider and contribute to them as well — that beginning is the responsibility of the reader. That beginning will never reach an end without the work of millions, without whom we shall not evolve past the tomfoolery of forgiveness and mercy and towards a model of justice founded on sacrifice, decency, and opportunity.

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Brant von Goble is a writer, editor, publisher, researcher, teacher, musician, juggler, and amateur radio operator.

He is the author of several books and articles of both the academic and non-academic variety. He owns and operates the book publishing company Loosey Goosey Press.