“‘Ban the box’ laws, which bar employers from asking job applicants whether they have a criminal record, may be harming some of the people they are intended to help….several recent studies have found that black men, even those without a criminal history, are less likely to get called back or hired after a ban the box law is put in place.” Following a push by advocates, 29 states “prevent state and sometimes city and county employers from including a criminal history box on job applications. Nine states have extended the ban to private employers as well.” [Rebecca Beitsch, StateLine/Huffington Post] The effect was already being noticed in the policy literature a year ago. Earlier here.
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It seems almost guaranteed that if the government says it is doing something to help people, it will do the opposite.
No problem is so bad that the government can’t make it worse. đŸ™‚
People need second chances. System so corrupted so many people get charged for things that shouldn’t. Crooked cops out there everywhere.
Yes, people do need a second chance and that chance should be earned and not forced upon private companies. And yes, while there are corrupt cops in the so called corrupt system, that does not mean that people who are convicted are not guilty of a crime.
Furthermore, the businesses upon which this is being forced have little or nothing to do with the corruption of the legal system. It is almost obscene to think that the answer to corruption in the “system” is to make more regulations that harm businesses.
That’s the real issue here. Should the government interject itself into a private contract for employment when there is no need to do so or evidence that the interjection will cure what the government says ails the situation?
Someone needs to say and prove how legislation like “ban the box” improves conditions for all parties – the businesses, the convicted person, the person who has never been convicted, etc.
. . . and the Plaintiffs’ Bar will be there to file negligent hire claims when those convicted employees injure others. We punish those who employ others every way we can think of.
People need second chances? Sure. But the result of “ban the box” is that you get a second chance after an armed robbery, but not after quitting a job. The fewer things that employers are allowed to consider, the more weight those few other things have.
Yep, a simple way around “ban the box” laws is for perspective employers to become hyper wary of ANYONE with any kind of gap in their employment history.