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Ban the box

Effort is at root an acknowledgement of some fundamental realities

This year’s session of the Colorado General Assembly may include a legislative effort to prohibit many private-sector employers from asking job applicants if they have a criminal background without first offering them an interview. It is an idea grounded in the reality of criminal justice and fairness to society.

The most often overlooked aspect of the criminal justice system is the simple fact that, with few exceptions, our system does not “lock ’em up and throw away the key.” Almost all prison inmates are eventually set free.

Then what?

The most basic thing a recently released convict needs is a job. What needs to be recognized, however, is that what society needs most in that situation is for that ex-convict to have a job. As Claire Levy, executive director of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, told the Herald, “The research is very clear that having a job is one of the strongest predictors of whether you are going to succeed or fail when you leave prison.”

And in that context, to fail typically does not just mean going back to prison. Often it means committing another crime, which in turn usually means honest citizens are in some way harmed.

The idea behind the envisioned legislative push would simply be to give both ex-convicts and prospective employers a chance to at least meet. It would not force anyone to hire felons or drop any existing standards. It would just “ban the box” on job applications where the form asks if the applicant has a criminal record. That is already the case for a number of state jobs. And the question could still be asked at the interview or later.

Any actual legislative proposal would also have to include exemptions for jobs where criminal background checks are required. The point, after all, is not to make it easier for felons to get away with anything. Rather, the idea is to allow those truly trying to remake their lives to have the chance to make their case.

And again, employers would still have the final say, which would of course vary with circumstances. No one expects a day-care center to hire a registered sex offender, but that same person might do well working in an industrial setting.

It says something, too, that big employers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot have on their own accord “banned the box.” Last year, Koch Industries – headed by the conservative Koch brothers – did so as well.

It makes sense. Imprisoning people is expensive and recidivism only adds to the cost. Whatever their past, gainfully employed ex-convicts contribute to society.

The numbers make that imperative. According to The Sentencing Project, a group advocating sentencing and prison reform, the United States has more than 1.5 million people in prison and more than 735,000 in jail. That is in addition to roughly 4.8 million on probation or parole. (Colorado has more than 20,000 people in prison, which on a per-capita basis is about 80 percent of the national rate.)

Not all the people in prison will get out alive, but most will. And while society can neither guarantee them a job nor make anyone hire them, encouraging their productivity is worthwhile. Banning the box is a small but healthy step.



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