The big issue roiling a small town: Does everyone deserve a second chance?

By the time residents of little Brentwood, Md., confronted their mayor at a town council meeting, they were angry, confused and demanding answers: Why had the vice mayor resigned? Why had the police chief been demoted? And why had the town given a job to a convicted rapist?

“It’s disgraceful,” one woman declared that evening in July. Another pleaded, “People really want to know if he’s safe.”