Page 70 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

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All too often, people who are returning home from incarceration need to access public benefits . The longer they go without securing adequate employment, the greater the likelihood that they will remain tethered to the welfare system, unable to take care of themselves or their family . Under these circumstances, frustration can set in and cause people to relapse, or engage in activities, sometimes illegal, to supplement the modest benefits received from public assistance .
Advocates for criminal justice reform have called for drastic changes to the existing policies that allow discrimination against people with criminal records . There appears to be a consensus that tough-on-crime policies exacerbated poverty, and have, in the words of former Attorney General Eric Holder, sent “too many Americans to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason .”25 Jurisdictions around the country are now examining multiple ways to reform the system, including:
n Reducing the number of people going to jail by reducing or eliminating the use of Stop and Frisk and Broken Windows policies;
n Fixing a bail system in desperate need of repair, as thousands of people languish in jails because of an inability to pay a modest bail, even when they pose no threat to public safety;
n Requiring companies that conduct criminal background checks to verify that the information they retrieve is correct and requiring employers to permit job seekers to contest information deemed inaccurate;
n Assessing if people have the ability to pay fee and fines, rather than generating revenue at the expense of having poor people cycling in and out of the jail;
n Expanding access to education, particularly post-secondary education, alternatives to incarceration, and substance use and mental health services;
n Reevaluating blanket policies that deny access to housing for people with criminal records .
Because employment is vital for people to take care of themselves, policymakers have funded initiatives that bond individuals with criminal records, thus shielding employers from liability; they have implemented wage subsidy programs that reimburse employers for wages when they hire someone with a criminal record under a specific criteria; the federal Department of Labor and many states, through funding from the Second Chance Act, have issued grants to programs that provide job training, job placement assistance, mentoring, and a host of wrap-around services to people in the reentry process; and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”)26 and some states have offered guidelines on how to properly screen people for employment and licensures .
A policy that has made significant inroads around the country is Ban the Box, an initiative that requires employers to remove the question about a criminal record from the job application . This fair chance policy is designed to increase the employment outcomes of people with criminal records by allowing hiring managers to screen for job skills, qualifications, and suitability before inquiring about criminal history and conducting a background check . Hence, a suitable formerly
25 Eric Holder, Attorney General, Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, United States Department of Justice (Aug. 12, 2013) (transcript available at http://www.justice.gov/opa/ speech/attorney-general-eric-holder-delivers-remarks-annual-meeting-american-bar-associations).
26 u.s. equal employmenT opporTuniTy commission, eeoc enforcemenT guidance, consideraTion of arresT and convicTion records in employmenT decisions under TiTle vii of The civil righTs acT of 1964 (Apr. 25, 2012), available at http:// www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/upload/arrest_conviction.pdf.
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality