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.”
