"Ban the Box" Campaigns Gain Steam

by Matt Kelley · 2010-05-13 08:00:00 UTC
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Could Rhode Island become the fifth state in the U.S. to ban the box?

Across the country, advocates for fair hiring practices are campaigning to stop public sector job applications from listing one seemingly innocuous question: "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"

The movement to "ban the box" is a critical step toward trying to ensure that felony charges don't follow people around forever — and that the 700,000 people released from U.S. prison each year have a shot at finding jobs and economic security.

Efforts to ban the box are gaining significant momentum, with new laws signed in Minnesota and New Mexico in the last year. (The first two states to ban the counterproductive question were Hawaii and New York.) Several major cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Austin, have removed the felony question as well.

Our criminal justice system ostensibly sets out to protect the public. Too often, though, it ends up driving more crime, by denying people second chances. When we hold a decades-old felony conviction over someone's head for a lifetime, we're depriving them the chance to achieve success and independence through employment. While there are many factors that fuel the United States' 68% recidivism rate, policies that immediately screen out public sector job applicants on the basis of their criminal history are certainly a major contributor to the trend.

On the other hand, if we give released prisoners a chance, we can shrink our prison population.

As Bruce Reilly writes in a comprehensive and thoughtful post at RIFuture, Rhode Islands's bill was introduced at the end of April. If passed, its implications would be far-reaching: "It is quite possible that the impact of the legislation would not even be greatest in the workforce, but rather in the prison," Reilly writes. "Passing this legislation would send a clear message to thousands of people being released from the ACI every year: You do have a chance. Don’t give up."

Photo Credit: Gamma-Ray Productions

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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