Good Moral Character
What is up with this, Pennsylvania?
The Pennsylvania Cosmetology Law allows the state to deny people a license if they lack “good moral character,” which the state initially bases on whether they have a criminal record, no matter the offense or when it happened. The law doesn’t define what good moral character is, and records obtained by NBC News of all 58 rejections on those grounds between 2015 and 2019 by the Pennsylvania cosmetology board show inconsistency in how the provision is applied. Some women were rejected for prostitution convictions, even if they had testified that they were forced into sex work, or for decade-old drug-related crimes. Yet the board gave licenses to two people with homicide convictions after they appealed.
2 key items from that paragraph:
- law does not define what good moral character is
- inconsistency
Exactly!
Which leads to problems like this:
Courtney Haveman had a drinking problem. From 2011 to 2013, she pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors, including driving while intoxicated and possession of drug paraphernalia for smoking pot, according to state records. She reached rock bottom at age 21 when she hit a security guard while drunkenly resisting arrest at a casino.
She joined Alcoholics Anonymous, and now six years sober and the mother of a toddler, Haveman wants to become an esthetician — a cosmetologist who focuses on facial care. She paid $6,000 to take six months of courses at a beauty school, and a salon offered her a job with the condition that she get a professional license. However, because of her criminal record, the Pennsylvania Board of Cosmetology decided in 2016 that Haveman did not have the “good moral character” necessary to take the esthetician exam and denied her license.
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/want-wax-eyebrows-pennsylvania-you-have-be-good-person-oppressive-n1231660)
What 1 person considers "good", another might consider "great". Or "fantastic". Or "unacceptable".
It's too judgmental. Too open to prejudice.
And the last thing this world needs is more of that crap.
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt
