WHY do ex-offenders check the box "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"

[JVS]

37. I've actually seen people hired despite answering yes, but if they lied they were fired.

This was a job driving for a car service. When I was applying, another guy applying told told the receptionist that he did have a felony record and asked if he should even bother fill out the application. She said to go ahead, and as long as his driving record was ok and it wasn't severe enough to keep the local police from issuing a livery license (I'm guessing they check to make sure the job doesn't violate probation conditions), they'd hire him. Sure enough I saw him at work the next day. When talking to other drivers, I discovered that quite a few had criminal records. One friend I made there had a firearms violation because he had pulled a gun on the abusive ex husband of his girlfriend. Evidently it was determined that the circumstances of this act did no meet the legal requirements for being able to wave a gun at someone. Anyway, this guy worked the job because FedEx wouldn't hire felons.