Justice System Reform

Daryl V. Atkinson, a Staff Attorney in the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services recently wrote the following op-ed for the NC Public Defender Association newsletter. SCSJ works with Mr. Atkinson as part of the Second Chance Alliance in support of the Ban the Box campaign for fair hiring. People with criminal records suffer from pervasive discrimination in many areas of life, including employment, housing, education, and eligibility for many forms of social service benefits. “Ban the Box” is a fair hiring campaign that seeks to end the employment discrimination faced by people with criminal records. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the criminal background check industry has grown tremendously. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management more than 90% percent of companies reported using criminal background checks for their hiring decisions. For many companies, criminal background checks have become the primary screening tool for prospective employees. However, these background checks often return information that is inaccurate, outdated, and unrelated (from any reasonable perspective) to the applicant’s fitness for a particular position. Ban the Box ordinances remove the questions about an applicant’s criminal history from the initial stages of the employment process so the hiring authority can first get an opportunity to learn about the candidate's experience, skills and personality as they relate to the position to be filled. Delaying the criminal background check until an applicant has been made a conditional offer of employment has improved the employment outcomes for people with criminal records. For example, Minneapolis passed a Ban the Box ordinance in 2007. Prior to the ordinance, only 6% of people with tarnished records were able to find work. After the Ban the Box measure was passed, this figure jumped to 60%, without any increase in theft or violence in the workplace. No other public policy has been shown to provide this level of improvement in transforming people with criminal records into responsible and productive tax-paying citizens. To date, over twenty cities and five states across the country have passed Ban the Box laws. The policy has proven to benefit potential employees, employers, and communities at large. Workers benefit because Ban the Box ordinances remove the chilling effect that questions about criminal records have on job applicants. Moreover, delaying the inquiry into an applicant’s criminal history levels the playing field by allowing the applicant to be judged on all of their qualifications and experience, not just their criminal record. Employers benefit from having an increased pool of applicants to choose from and reduced human resource expenses because they are not conducting unnecessary background checks on unqualified applicants. Finally, the community benefits from increased public safety and reduced corrections costs. In sum, Ban the Box is a win-win proposition for people with criminal records, prospective employers, and society as a whole. Currently, the North Carolina Second Chance Alliance is encouraging the City Councils and County Commissions in Durham and Raleigh, NC to pass Ban the Box ordinances.

Approximately 40,000 people are currently in North Carolina prisons, half of whom are repeat offenders. Ninety-five percent of these individuals will eventually leave prison, return home, and seek employment. Formerly incarcerated individuals face hiring discrimination that keeps them from being able to provide for their families in a meaningful, productive way. The Durham Second Chance Alliance is working to break down that barrier. The Alliance's proposed Ban the Box ordinance for Durham will remove these questions from the application at the initial stage of the employment process so the hiring authority can first get an opportunity to learn about the candidate's experience, skills and personality as they relate to the position to be filled. The fight for fair hiring extends well beyond Durham. As a result of statewide pressure, the NC House passed HB 641 (Certificate of Relief), which would establish assistance for folks who have been convicted in dealing with hiring discrimination. The bill is now in the Senate. The Durham Second Chance Alliance was started by InStepp Inc., N.C. Justice Center, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Southside Neighborhood Association, and Action NC. To learn more, visit the Ban the Box page and the NC Second Chance Alliance page on the NC Justice Center Website. To get involved, contact Anthony at anthony@scsj.org.

Hundreds gathered in Durham on Saturday, June 4 around a common goal: to end employment discrimination and promote fair hiring. In partnership with the Durham Second Chance Alliance, the Love & Respect Recovery House hosted its 9th Annual Take Back the Streets Community Fair & March. People in attendance took to the streets of North East Central Durham, marching and shouting together, "Ban the Box now!" The Durham Second Chance Alliance's Ban the Box campaign is part of a national movement that focuses on passing local ordinances for fair hiring practices, such as removing the question, or "box," on job applications that asks if applicants have ever been convicted of a crime or incarcerated. This question drastically hurts the chances of people with criminal records getting a job and being able to be independent and provide for their families. In North Carolina, more than 1.6 million people have a criminal record, and 45% of those under the Department of Correction supervision are African American. Over twenty cities have already "Banned the Box," including San Francisco, Detroit, Boston, Memphis and most recently, Philadelphia. Among the crowd of supporters were elected officials and local activists who publicly lent their support to the passage of a fair hiring ordinance in Durham. Paul Luebke, NC House Representative for Durham County, spoke of the importance of passing a fair hiring ordinance as opposed to a policy, which is neither permanent nor a law, and could change at the whim of the city or county administration. Durham NAACP Branch President Fred Foster encouraged the audience to set their goals higher and push for Ban the Box to become a statewide issue. He highlighted how this is an issue that disproportionately affects African Americans across the state. Durham City Council-member Mike Woodard commended the event and said there should be more like it to raise awareness for the issue. Putting a human face on the issue, Clarence Stevenson from the Love & Respect Recovery House, spoke about his past history of incarceration and job-seeking, and the importance of an ordinance in securing opportunities to obtain stable employment. Durham city and county need to pass a comprehensive ban the box ordinance to ensure that Stevenson and others like him have a fair second chance.

Judge Greg Mathis, formerly the youngest person to ever hold the post of superior court judge in Michigan, as well as the host of the popular court show Judge Mathis, has written an op-ed about employment discrimination against ex-offenders in Electronic Urban Report. According to Mathis: "Every year, more than 700,000 people are released from state and federal prisons: they all need to find work so that they may support themselves and their families, contribute to their communities and to ensure poverty, frustration and desperation don’t force them to return to a life of crime." SCSJ has been promoting a fair hiring campaign to "Ban the Box", which would remove at the initial state of the employment process questions that ask whether the applicant has been convicted of a crime or been incarcerated . Durham has also recently considered passing an ordinance against this form of discrimination in order to help residents get jobs "based on their current credentials rather than their past indiscretions."