Ban the Box

Many people in the United States have the problem of obtaining jobs based on their criminal history. Research shows that employers have for a long time had the tendency of asking employees to tick a box that indicates whether they have criminal past or not. Most of the public and private sector employers have successfully denied qualified people with criminal records deserved job opportunities. The government of the United States came up with a bill known as the fair chance act. The law was passed in most states to prevent employers from asking job applicants about their past criminal records before being offered the job they have applied for. Research has shown that people with previous criminal records have difficulties acquiring jobs in private and public sectors irrespective of their qualifications. As such, many people came up with the slogan ban the box which aimed at forcing prospective employers to stop asking questions about the interviewees criminal records before being offered the job. Ban the box was a protest by lobby groups and some leaders to force employers to remove the box and the question that people with criminal records have to tick while taking interviews.

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According to CITATION Jul15 \l 1033 (Julian, 2015) around 64 million Americans have criminal records. These people find it difficult to find jobs because of their past criminal accounts. As such, the campaign to stop employers from asking potential employees of their criminal record aimed at ensuring that these people had the chances of getting jobs based on their academic qualifications. The fair chance act requires that employees be protected from such questions and be given a fair chance to get the deserved job. Thiscame about after a government research revealed that the government lost $60 billion annually on lowered output of goods and services and lost productivity due to the large number of unemployed people with criminal records. According to research by CITATION Jul15 \l 1033 (Julian, 2015) having many unemployed but qualified people with criminal records is not only bad for the people but also to the economy. Hence the need to ban employees from denying people with criminal records from getting jobs.

Similarly, the law requires that any employer who wishes to dismiss an employee based on his or her criminal past must provide the employee with the necessary information. For example, if the employer used the internet to conduct a criminal background search on the employee, then the employer needs to make the sources of information available to the employee CITATION Jul15 \l 1033 (Julian, 2015). On the same note, the employer is required to provide records of the criminal information about the employers from public and government institution if they used any of the sectors as their points of reference. This law recognizes that many employers have dismissed their qualified employees unjustly without giving them a fair chance at the interviews. Some leaders also claim that it is fruitless to train inmates on how to perform skilled labor while in corrections camps yet they will not have the opportunity to use the same skills in getting their desired jobs CITATION Jul15 \l 1033 (Julian, 2015).

Many policy makers in the United States believe that banning the box is the solution to the wide unemployment statistics among people with criminal records. They believe that these people too have the chance of building the economy by getting jobs that enable them to earn a living without relying on the government CITATION Jul15 \l 1033 (Julian, 2015). The policy makers believe that some of the people with criminal records also have qualifications that help them obtain jobs in various sectors. To show their involvement in ban the box lobby, most leaders, governors, and senators have decided to demand that the employees in their states should remove the box. They also demand that the employers should abide by the fair chance act to enable such people get jobs. The success of ban the box slogan has been experienced in many states. Notably, the first state to adopt the removal of criminal background checks during interviews was Hawaii. Hawaii adopted the fair act in 1998 by removing the need to history of criminal acts by job applicants.

Many other states followed by adopting the policy after the appearance of the slogan ban the box in the early 2000s. Six states including the district of Colombia and other cities such as Baltimore, Newark, New Jersey, and San Francisco joined Hawaii in adopting ban the box to eradicate such questions during job interviews CITATION Jul15 \l 1033 (Julian, 2015).Similarly, Walmart and target decided to remove questions about criminal history from the rob application forms countrywide. According to the policy makers, the main reason why it is important to ban the box is that the steady employment of potential employees with criminal records is an important factor in their integration into the society. It is reported that the lack ofemployment for people with criminal records does not only affect the people but also affects the society as a whole. Julian (2015) states that a study conducted by the Philadelphia economy League showed that employing people with past criminal record has a positive impact on the countrys revenues.

References

Julian, L. (2015). States Ban the Box: Removing Barriers to Work for People with Criminal Records.Retrirved from https://csgjusticecenter.org/reentry/posts/states-ban-the-box-removing-barriers-to-work-for-people-with-criminal-records-2/