Banning the Box: Good for the economy, public safety; gives people a second chance
Source: al.com, by Frank Knaack, the executive director of Alabama Appleseed
What do Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Starbucks, Koch Industries, and Facebook all have in common? They no longer include a criminal history check box on their employment applications. In order to chose from the best and the brightest pool of applicants, they have decided to judge applicants on their merits, not their mistakes.
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It's time for Alabama's state and local government employers to follow the lead of these major U.S. businesses. This session our legislators have the opportunity to do just that. SB 200, sponsored by Senator Quinton Ross, would prohibit a state or local government employer from asking an applicant about their criminal history until a conditional offer of employment is made. A safeguard in the bill would enable the government employer to withdraw the job offer if the applicant's criminal conviction is directly related to the job. Further, the bill establishes clear criteria for state agencies to consider during the screening process, which would better protect the agencies from claims of discrimination under Title VII. It's a win-win.
If Alabama wants to hire the best qualified applicants and make our communities safer, banning the box is a step in the right direction. Today, nearly one out of every three U.S. adults has a criminal record - that's around 70 million people. To reduce the likelihood that these individuals will reoffend, the U.S. Department of Justice has identified three key factors to successful reentry, one of which is helping people find and keep a job.
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We must also look at this issue in the context of race. Because African Americans are disproportionately caught up in our criminal justice system, they are disproportionately harmed by the criminal history box. For example, even though African Americans and whites use marijuana at roughly the same rate, African Americans are more than four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession in Alabama. Banning the box on government employment applications would offer a small opportunity to begin to address the long-term consequences of a criminal justice system that continues to disproportionately harm African Americans.
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Read it all at: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/05/banning_the_box_good_for_the_e.html#incart_river_home
