I killed him.” For George Lawson this was when things went from bad to a whole lot worse

“They jumped me, four of them One guy stabbed me and then tried again I shot out with my eyes closed. I killed him.” For George Lawson this was when things went from bad to a whole lot worse.
As a 23-year-old he had, like many in the North Lawndale suburb of Chicago, been involved in drugs But now he was a killer. He pleaded self-defence, but the prosecutor preferred to call it first-degree murder. He didn’t get the benefit of the doubt.Twenty-five years on, having served his time, Mr Lawson is back in North Lawndale, living in a hostel, looking for work, but he knows that things are always going to be that bit harder for a convicted murderer “It’s a problem – you have to get people to trust you. They think that if they rub you up the wrong way, you’re going to go berserk.” But, perhaps surprisingly, Mr Lawson has a good chance of finding a job.In the basement of a church, he joins representatives from several charitable and volunteer agencies who have come together to help ex-convicts get back into the labour market. At North Lawndale Employment Network, former law-breakers can get help in all areas of finding work, including training, education, housing, clothing and curing substance abuse.For those ex-offenders willing to invest time and effort, the chances of getting back into mainstream life have not been as good for a long time.

With unemployment standing at four per cent, companies are looking beyond their normal pools of workers. In Illinois, which includes Chicago, around 2,000 prisoners are released every month.Steve Epting, employment director of the Safer Foundation, which for 28 years has been trying to place ex-offenders in work and is now part of NLEN, says that organisation is in danger of being swamped: “I’m worried we’ll just get too many people coming through the doors.” He is probably right: in North Lawndale, many people need help. Just a couple of miles from Chicago’s thriving downtown area, it has been racked by deprivation since the murder of Martin Luther King in 1968.North Lawndale, like many black neighbourhoods across the country, went up in flames. There are still scores of vacant sites where buildings were burned down. Until very recently the population of almost 50,000 did not have a grocery store or bank.More than two-thirds of the male population between the ages of 18 and 45 are ex-offenders, and drug-taking is a major problem. That means those signing up with NLEN must agree to unannounced tests even while they are receiving help and advice.If the ex-offender does finally secure a job, it is not just the individual who benefits. In addition to the economic advantage of having people in work, there is also an impact on crime.

The recidivism rate among working ex-offenders is almost half that of those who are dependent on welfare.. With public boasts and very private trials, the Chinese government has this week been tackling corruption. After the execution of a top legislator on Thursday, for accepting bribes worth £3.3m, the state-run People’s Daily trumpeted: “The Communist Party of China is completely capable of eliminating cancers invading the body of the Party, by its own powers, to maintain its progressive nature and purity.”

With public boasts and very private trials, the Chinese government has this week been tackling corruption. After the execution of a top legislator on Thursday, for accepting bribes worth £3.3m, the state-run People’s Daily trumpeted: “The Communist Party of China is completely capable of eliminating cancers invading the body of the Party, by its own powers, to maintain its progressive nature and purity.”
Behind closed doors, courts began trying more than 200 “impure” officials accused in a £6bn smuggling case in Fujian province. While some of those implicated reside in Peking’s courtyards of power, few expect any big names to fall. And in China’s villages, as evidence mounts of growing rural tensions, this week’s “victory of justice and rule of law” offers little real hope of curbing endemic corruption at rice-roots level.China’s leaders do not have far to travel should they deign to hear the people’s grievances.

All the misery and brutality of modern China is lined up along a small street in southern Peking At its northern end lies an obscure government office. There is no sign from the main road, and the phone number is not listed, but word of mouth works well enough among the dispossessed. In makeshift camps, at least 200 Chinese stake their daily claims and hold out for the duration.It could be a long wait. They have come from every corner of this vast land to “shangfang”, two Chinese characters that conceal a multitude of sins. “To complain to the higher authorities about an injustice and request fair settlement” is the dictionary translation. It sounds so straightforward, but a few conversations soon disabuse one of any impression that the system actually works.An old peasant from Inner Mongolia says he has been coming here for 20 years, fighting in vain for compensation for a vicious beating by the head of his People’s Commune, way back in the Cultural Revolution. Veteran Shu Shandong lost his leg in China’s 1979 border war with Vietnam, and his job three years ago.