ipl-logo

Ban The Box Analysis

507 Words3 Pages

At a first glance, employment might not seem as controversial as topics such as abortion or gun control; however, when given the variable of criminal history, much discourse is created. There is a plethora of employers that are convinced if an applicant has any criminal record, they are automatically unfit for the work force. While conversely, there is a margin of employers who disregard criminal history and choose not to conduct background checks on the applicants. With the rise of technology, privacy of any person’s criminal background is easily bypassed due to the increase of background screening businesses. Angela Preston in her article, Ban the Box Has Turned Into a Big Employer Problem, maintains the belief that “no two versions of …show more content…

In his article, Removing the Stigma of Past Incarceration: Ban the Box, Bill Mosley explains it is “understandable that many employers may believe it is their best interest to avoid hiring ex-convicts. But it is also in the interest of society at large to reintegrate ex-convicts into society and to stop adding to the large underclass of former prisoners with minimal prospects of earning an honest living.” Mosley acknowledges the discomfort an employer may experience knowing one of their employees have a criminal history, however he supports his opinion by immediately explaining the most effective medium of reducing the number of former prisoners in society is to integrate them into the working force. His purport in this piece of text is to accentuate the importance society as a whole has in terms of eliminating criminal discrimination. In addition to Mosley’s argument, Daryl V. Atkinson and Kathleen Lockwood, in their article The Benefits of Ban the Box, claim that “hiring people with criminal records facilitates public safety by reducing recidivism rates.” Atkinson and Lockwood provide this statement in order to instill the idea that not only will previous convicts receive jobs, but the increase in jobs will lead to a decrease in recidivism rates, which will also heighten public

Open Document