The Federal Government Should Pass Legislation Banning Employers from Asking About Criminal Convictions on Initial Job Applications
When Daniel left prison two years ago he walked out of the doors with hope and optimism. He had completed all of the recovery programs that were available and attended his narcotic anonymous meetings religiously while incarcerated. He knew that with the help he had received and his “can do” attitude, he was certain to obtain employment and become a productive member of society. After all, he was a single parent of two young kids and they were counting on him. No way would he ever let them down again!
Now, two years later sitting in front of his computer screen, filling out yet another job application he was filled with self-doubt, hopelessness and desperation. He knew it was probably just a waste of time. Most employers would never read past the application section that he was staring at with dread. The words leapt off the screen and taunted him, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” To answer yes was almost a certain disqualification. To lie would not only be dishonest but could lead to later termination. He felt so desperate, but what more could he do?
This scenario is played out every single minute in the United States. Potentially highly qualified individuals are immediately dismissed because of their past mistakes. That is why it is imperative for the United States Legislature to pass a law that would prohibit potential employers from asking an applicant about their convictions until after the initial application process.
With the numbers of individuals being incarcerated in the United States increasing on a consistent basis, the potential work pool for employers to choose from is decre...
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Knafo, Saki. "'Ban The Box' Bill In Minnesota Could Help Ex-Offenders Get Jobs." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 May 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
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"NPR Tell Me More." Ban The Box: Some Companies Stop Asking Job Applicants About Criminal History. NPR. 5 Nov. 2013. Web.
"Prison Education :-Inmate Education -Correctional Education - Prison Education News - Prison Education and the Benefits To Taxpayers." Prison Education :-Inmate Education -Correctional Education - Prison Education News - Prison Education and the Benefits To Taxpayers. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Dec. 2013.
"SB 459 Ban the Box - Removing Barriers to Employment for People with Criminal Convictions." Http://www.drugpolicy.org, n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
The baseline for this argument can be given by looking at America, “America is home to 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. More than two millions Americans are locked up at any given time, more than half of them in state prisons. This is costly, at $29,000 per federal inmate per year and more for state prisoners—about the price of sending each one to an Ivy League university” (W.). Partially all state prisoners are serving time in jail for non-violent crimes. When these prisoners are released, they struggle and fight for jobs. However, most of them lose this battle and end up right back where they started in prison. Messrs and Paul Booker introduced the Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act to law on July 8th. This act is mostly known as “The Redeem
Without these men getting to work and becoming productive members of society, they are barred from this opportunity and the economy suffers (Appelbaum, 2015). Devah Pager, who conducted the famous study “Mark of a Criminal Recod,” which unveiled apparent discrimination against ex-offenders in the job market, weighed in on the issue: “Prior to the prison boom, when convictions were restricted to a smaller fraction of the population, it wasn’t great for their rehab potential but it wasn’t having a huge impact… Now such a large fraction of the population is affected that is has really significant implication, not just for those people, but for the labor market as a whole (Appelbaum,
When trying to find themselves in society, jobs may be hard to come by. When prisoners find a jobs, they are usually work in jobs that one doesn’t not have to have a high-skill set, such as food service, wholesale, and maintenance and repair. The number one reason why prisoners end up back in jail is not the lack of job opportunities but perceiving that job when returning home. “Service providers and community leaders consider employment to be the primary factor in a successful reentry” (Casey 2). When the lack of job opportunities come prisoners may feel the need to break the law and return to life of crime because they cannot support themselves, so they may turn to selling drugs to make a quick buck. Selling drugs is not an alternative for not being able to find a job, especially when one has just got out of prison because if they get caught they will find themselves back in jail. Recidivism is a topic that I do not believe anyone could solve, it is hard to comprehend why people look back to crime again and again after they get caught the first time. In the article Parole and Prison Reentry in the United States author talks about how when prisoners or released they usually end up failing to finish their release sentence and out of the parolees how many return back to prison when she states, “About half of parolees fail to complete parole successfully and their returns to prison represent about a third of
Deitchler, D., Fliegel, R., Fitzke, S., & Mora, J. (2013, May 17). Minnesota Enacts “Ban the Box Law" Prohibiting Employment Application Criminal History Checkmark Boxes and Restricting Criminal Record Inquiries Until After Interviews or Conditional Job Offers | Littler Mendelson P.C. Retrieved from http://www.littler.com/minnesota-enacts-%E2%80%9Cban-box-law-prohibiting-employment-application-criminal-history-checkmark-boxes
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for a number of reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. The ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system is caused by mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism.
In most states ex-felons are not allowed to vote. This takes away a large portion of the voting population because of how many ex-felons there are right now and the many more that will be in the future. Ex-felons may also have a very hard time finding a job or a place to live. Legally landlords are allowed to deny an ex-felon. In Carbondale Illinois rental properties owners “Home Rentals” does background checks to make sure that none of their potential renters are felons. If they are felons Home Rentals claims that they will deny them the privilege of living in one of their properties. Ex-felons may also have a hard time finding jobs. Not many employers are willing to employ ex-felons for the fear of more crime or less commitment. Though denying these ex-felons jobs will not help the economy, only giving them jobs can help that.
Many correctional education programs focus on prisoner’s way of thinking and ability to make decisions. One of the many reasons criminals keep returning to prison is because they are often times released after many years of being incarcerated and have no assistance while returning to society. Correctional education programs are designed to eliminate such way of thinking so prison re-entry rate will drop. Programs such as Preparing Inmates for Re-Entry through Assistance, Training, and Employment Skills (PIRATES) are developed to reduce offenders’ negative career thoughts and teach essential skills in order to return back to society (Musgrove, Derzis, Shippen, & Brigman, 2012). Additionally, such programs are not only beneficial to offender’s mental health, but can also essentially reduce recidivism rate, lower cost associated with offender’s re-entry, support former incarcerated individuals while returning to society, educate inmates so they can get employed after being released, and potentially reduce crime.
Standards for Hiring People with Criminal Records. 11 Mar 2010. http://www.lac.org/ ‘’Legal Affairs’’ http://www.legalaffairs.org/webexclusive/debateclub_disenfranchisement1104.msp ‘’Locked Out’’ Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. 11 Mar. 2010. http://www.powells.com/biblio/65-9780195149326-0 Prison Segregation and Felon Disenfranchisement.
A writer for “The Daily Beast,” Andrew Becker reports that this additional step came “at the tail end of a massive hiring surge that began in 2006 and eventually added 17,000 employees, helping to make the agency the largest law enforcement operation in the country.” This arouses great unease and concern about “the thousands of employees Customs and Border Protection has hired over the past six years before it began mandatory polygraph tests for all applicants” (Becker). The records—official summaries of more than 200 polygraph admissions—contain many very disturbing testimonies of applicants admitting to drug smuggling and even murder (Becker). One confession, according to the Customs and Border Protection summary, consisted of an applicant admitting to having “‘no independent recollection of the events that resulted in a blood-doused kitchen and was uncertain if he committed any crime during his three-hour black out’”(Becker). The fact that thousands have been hired without the screening cannot be ignored. It is this negligence that is the cause of agents such as Justin Tackett—an officer who “had a dubious work history long before joining Border Patrol”—being able to find employment within the Border Patrol agency (Peter.) Tackett’s employment history is such as follows: “[he] joined
Throughout the nation there are 5.3 million Americans who are denied their right to vote because they have a criminal conviction on their record (“Felon Voting Rights”). In the state of Florida, a felon can’t apply for his right to vote to be restored until at least five years after he has completed his sentence, with no guarantee of his rights being restored. Violent and repeat felons haven’t proved they are good citizens; however non-violent felons, who have committed victimless crimes, should be allowed to have their rights restored when they have served their time and paid off their fines. Non-violent felons would have a better chance of readapting into society because they would be able to vote in elections, be rehabilitated, and return to fully contributing members of society.
Some argue that “Ban the Box” is a symbol, not a solution. They state that it offers the appearance of helping those with criminal convictions obtain employment, but in reality, will do the opposite. Not a single returning citizen will gain employment because of this provision. In practice, it will lead to less hiring, and the provision may jeopardize progress on other, more important measures designed to help returning citizens re-integrate into the workforce. Ban The Box will create the perception among employers that it is more risky to hire anyone. When
Zhang, S. X., Roberts, R. E. L., & Callanan, V. J. (2006). Preventing parolees from returning to prison through community-based reintegration. Crime & Delinquency, 52(4), 551-571.
With few offenders in jail, there is less of a need for employment in the jail system. In twenty-four years the crime rate has drop in New York, below a hundred thousand for the first time since 1987 (Roberts). Many jailer are being laid off. Offering jobs and training programs that keep tracks of offenders out in the communities, would be a great opportunity. Job requirements would consist of giving advices and resources of way offenders can find lawyers or services that can help their
More than 600,000 prisoners are released into the main population of the United States every year. Of that 600,000, 30 percent end up back behind bars within six months of their release, and 70 percent end up returning to jail within three years (Reisig, 409). Upon release, many criminals find that life on the outside is harder on them than it was when they were convicted, sentenced, and locked away. People who know them may become just as prejudiced as the interviewers and landlords who deny them the chance to earn a living or a place to stay. Through the continued use of labels like criminal, thug, crook, and felon, many released offenders feel ostracized and isolated. Their friends and families may turn their backs on them, taking away the few things they have left...
Johnstone, G. and Ness, D. (2007) Handbook of Restorative Justice. USA: Willan Publishing. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-big-question-what-are-the-alternatives-to-prison-and-do-they-work-419388.html [Accessed 01 January 2014].