Criminal Histories as a Barrier to Employment - Fathers Behind Bars and on the Street

Family & Corrections Network

THE NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON FATHERS BEHIND BARS & ON THE STREET

Criminal Histories as a Barrier to Employment

by Debbie Mukamal

Why Pay Special Attention To This Population?
·More and more people are convicted and imprisoned every year.

·Dept of Justice estimates that nearly 6 million people were under criminal justice supervision in 1998.

·The likelihood of an ex-offender being rearrested, reconvicted, and re-incarcerated is extremely high.

·Individuals with criminal records face multiple barriers to employment.

·The work requirements and time limits mandated in the new welfare laws make addressing the needs of this population more pressing than ever.

How Many People Have Criminal Records?
·State and Federal prison population of 1.86 million individuals.

·One in every 147 persons is incarcerated.

·Incarceration rates are higher for young men of color.

·Department of Justice study found that 11% of all black males in their 20's and early 30's are in prison or jail, compared to 4% of Hispanics and 1.5% of whites.

What Kinds Of Crimes?
·A majority of offenders are convicted of drug or property crimes.

·Women offenders are mostly convicted of non-violent crimes of economy such as prostitution, fraud, and drug-related offenses.

What Kinds of Barriers Do Individuals with Criminal Records Face?
·Legal barriers

·Practical barriers

Legal Barriers
·Federal welfare law includes a lifetime ban on TANF and Food Stamps for individuals convicted of drug felonies.

·48% of states have denied benefits entirely

·36% of states have modified the ban

·16% of states have opted out of the ban entirely

·Federal welfare law ban on TANF, Food Stamps, SSI and Public Housing for violators of parole and probation.

·Permissible discrimination

·Employers may consider an applicant?s conviction record and in very limited cases a person?s arrest record.

·Ex-offenders are categorically barred from certain professions like home health care, nursing, education, and childcare.

·Many employers have easy access to applicants? criminal histories.

Practical Barriers
·Stigma and bias

·Some employers will not hire anyone with a conviction.

·Some state and federal laws protect ex-offenders from discrimination but limited resources to enforce those laws.

·Alcohol and substance abuse histories - Some 80% of offenders have drug and alcohol problems and/or were under the influence of drugs or alcohol while committing the offense.

·Lack of job history and employable skills

·Physical and mental health issues -16% of state prison inmates are mentally ill.

·Low education levels - Many are functionally illiterate and test under the 7th grade level.

·Prior physical or sexual abuse - 57% of female offenders in state prison reported that they had been physically or sexually abused before their current sentence.

·Service providers estimate that nearly 80%of women involved in the criminal justice system have histories of physical or sexual abuse.

·Child welfare - 75% of the women under custody in New York are mothers with an average of 2.1 children. New child welfare laws accelerate the termination of parental rights.

·Child support - New welfare laws make the payment of child support a priority including mandating income withholding to make child support payments. Child support arrearages can accrue while a non-custodial father is incarcerated. The amount owed in arrearages cannot be dismissed, only modified.

·Poor self-esteem

Strategies To Minimize Employment Barriers
·Assess labor demand

·Identify employers' willingness to hire ex-offenders

·Understand labor supply

Assess Labor Demand
·Define the legal framework

·Know which jobs have legal bars to people with criminal records and what needs to be done to lift those bars.

·Know the extent to which employers may consider an applicant?s criminal history; some state and federal laws limit consideration to those offenses that "directly" or "substantially" relate to the job in question.

·Recognize and respond to the legitimate negligent hiring concerns of employers.

Identify Employers? Willingness to Hire Ex-Offenders
·Identify friendly employers who are willing to hire with little or no background checks, applicants with low skills or experience, or for jobs that do not pose public safety considerations (construction, assembly work, manufacturing).

·Recruit willing employers who can be persuaded to hire ex-offenders.

·Use mock job fairs and surveys to introduce employers to potential employees and gauge willingness to hire ex-offenders.

·Work with existing ex-offender employment agencies to develop employer networks and develop strategies for working with ex-offenders.

·Avoid sending applicants to those employers with legal and/or blanket bars to hiring ex-offenders.

·Reduce transaction costs

·Establish an intermediary between the employer and employee.

·Serve as a no-cost human resource specialist with accurate and complete information about job applicants.

·Introduce employers to financial incentives available for those who hire ex-offenders (Work Opportunity Tax Credits, Federal Bonding Program, WIA subsidies).

·Address the comprehensive set of personal needs that exacerbate ex-offenders' ability to secure and retain jobs.

Understand Labor Supply
·Become familiar with job seekers? backgrounds

·Know the kind of crimes, the period of time between the offense and the present, evidence of rehabilitation by the individual, marketable job skills and education.

·Rely on agencies that work with ex-offenders to perform individual needs assessments and address those issues.

·Prepare potential employees

·Clean up criminal records to minimize mistakes and omissions.

·Counsel clients on addressing their criminal histories directly and honestly, with emphasis on efforts at rehabilitation.

·Ensure ex-offenders know their legal rights including the extent to which they are obligated to reveal their criminal background.

·Link clients to the support services they need.

Statewide Policy Recommendations
·Opt out of or modify the drug felon ban.

·Provide for the sealing or expungement of criminal records to eliminate the stigma of a criminal history in appropriate circumstances.

·Protect people with criminal records from unfair employment discrimination by enacting state anti-discrimination laws that limit consideration of a criminal record to job-related convictions.

·Invest in workforce development and criminal justice agencies that are willing to provide a range of job readiness, placement, and retention services to ex-offender clients.

·Link pre-release services with post-release services including matching inmate labor with post-release employment opportunities.

Debbie Mukamal is a staff attorney at the Legal Action Center, the only nonprofit law and policy organization in the United States whose sole mission is to fight discrimination against people with histories of addiction, AIDS or criminal records. Contact the Legal Action Center at 153 Waverly Place, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10014, (212) 243-1313, dmukamal@lac.org.