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state, and municipal correctional budg-
ets. And it also means the loss of profes-
sional licensures, significant gaps in
employment history, and skills atrophy
for the offender. Consequently, there
is an even larger penalty to be faced
long after the original offense has been
committed. That penalty manifests
as the failure to find employment (or
attend college).
Recent analysis by the Society of
Human Resources (SHRM), the
non-profit devoted to investigation
Law (iStock photo Photo credit: Michat Chodyra [www.skycinema.pl]). of employment practices, found that
approximately 69 percent of organiza-
Criminal History and Employment: tions solicit criminal history informa-

Why we need to Ban the Box! tion from job applicants. This trend is
troublesome to some observers who
believe that criminal records informa-
Jakari Griffith tion is overused, causing many firms to
overlook good candidates. Moreover,
fter presenting a paper on the relationship the inability to find employment is a
between criminal records and employment significant contributor to recidivism.
A at an academic conference in 2015, a session So, is there an alternative that balances
the rights of the applicant against the
attendee came to me and shared that he had once concerns for the employer?
been arrested for a marijuana charge. Although he Yes: An increasing number of states
was an exceptionally bright young man and graduated and cities are adopting Ban the Box
(BTB) policy, which asks employers to
from a prestigious law school, he was unable to gain delay or refrain from making inquiries
employment due to having a criminal record. into an applicant’s criminal history. In
2000, just one state, Hawaii, adopted
Another attendee also shared that for less than 5 percent of the world’s this legislation; by 2016, it has climbed
he scored a 740 out of 800 on the population…but 25 percent of its to 24 states and 150 cities and coun-
Graduate Management Admissions Test incarcerated inhabitants.” To make ties. This policy not only adds integrity
(GMAT), but had been passed over matters worse, incarceration rates have to the employment screening process,
by several top-ranking MBA programs continued to increase even as rates by compelling employers to focus on
because of a criminal altercation for violent crime have decreased, an candidate skills and qualifications first,
he had while intoxicated. Because effect largely attributed to changes in but it sets out guidelines that inform
many elite business schools ask about drug policy and sentencing guidelines. when criminal information should be
criminal convictions, and in some Of the 14 million arrests recorded by considered during the selection process,
instances adjudications withheld, he the Department of Justice in 2009, for if such information is considered at
was unable to escape the burden of example, less than four percent related all. Yet, the program is no panacea.
his criminal past. to violent crimes. Compliance with BTB is hard to verify
and the degree to which it helps ex-
In the United States, it is common to The rise of this carceral state does not offenders is largely unknown. In one of
hear of these stories. That is because come without severe economic and the only published articles on the topic,
America’s prison and jail populations social consequences. Imprisonment featured in the University of Michigan
have increased from 300,000 people often means loss of a household wage Law & Econ Research, an examination
in 1970 to 2.2 million in 2012. A 2015 earner, a predicament sending families of 15,000 fictitious online job applica-
article featured in The Atlantic claims into near immediate poverty. It means tions submitted to employers in New
that the United States “now accounts diverting taxpayers’ money to federal,
York City and New Jersey found a

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