OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT
BARACK H. OBAMA
PRESIDENT OBAMA, AMERICA TRULY NEEDS A NATIONAL BAN
THE BOX POLICY
Mr.
President, I would first like to enthusiastically congratulate you on your
impressive victory and re-election to a second term as President of the United
States of America. With the upcoming fiscal negotiations weighing heavy on you,
your cabinet and staff, I can only hope and pray that you get a chance to read
my letter. I will attempt to be brief.
Mr.
President, We need you to use your executive privilege and implement a
“national” Ban the Box policy. Mr. President, there are over 80 Million people
with a criminal conviction on their public records. I call this “public”
notification of a person’s past–the “scarlet letter” of our day, which I also
proclaim in my book (Civil Death in New
York State) is the “civil death penalties” of the modern age. With the
advancement of information technology, background checks have become more and
more common; and with millions of Americans looking for work, employers are
utilizing information technology to “sift out” applicants with any kind of
criminal background. This ancient
practice of “stigmatizing” and “ostracizing” people with a criminal history is
helping this great country of ours go straight down the road of ruin. Mr.
President, you said that we have been experiencing the greatest economic
downturn since the great depression. Although there are signs that the economy
is improving and unemployment is beginning to go down, Black people still have
the highest rates of unemployment nationally and it gets worse when you break
the numbers down statewide. In many large urban areas across the country, the
unemployment rate for blacks is anywhere from 30% to 50%.
Since
Black people are “targeted,” “arrested,” “prosecuted,” “convicted” and “incarcerated” at much higher rates than
other ethnic groups in this country. I believe–as a consequence of that fact,
Blacks are facing “job discrimination” at higher rates than other groups as
well. This reality has given rise to a “great depression” in the Black
community that has mostly been overlooked by mainstream civil rights
organizations. In response to advocacy
groups pressing for meaningful legislative change in the hiring process of
formerly convicted people and all of the empirical studies which prove that
employment is the greatest deterrent to recidivism, the “Ban the Box” movement
is sweeping across the country.
The
“Ban the box” movement was started by a group of formerly convicted people in
Oakland, CA – called “All of Us or None.” Many experts studying the negative
effects a criminal conviction could have on job opportunities have found that a
person with criminal past have a much better chance of getting hired when they
are able to get to the “Interview” phase of the hiring process. The list of
states and cities that have passed Ban the Box legislation are steadily
growing. Just a few of which are:
(1)
Austin, TX; (2) Chicago, IL; (3) Connecticut; (4) Detroit, MI; (5) Durham, NC;
(6) Hawaii; (7) Jacksonville, FL; (8) Massachusetts; (9) Memphis, TN; (10)
Minnesota; (11) New Mexico; (12)Newark, NJ; (13) Philadelphia, PA (14)
Providence, RI; (15) San Francisco, CA; (16) San Jose, CA; (17) Seattle, WA and
(18) Oakland, CA. Mayor Michael Bloomberg (at the suggestion of myself and
other advocates) implemented a ban the box ordinance by executive order for
city hiring. Governor Deval Patrick signed into law one of the most progressive
anti-discrimination laws in the country. the Massachusetts Criminal Offender
Record Information Act (the “CORI Act”) among other things Bans the Box on
public and Private employers, sets time limits on the access of applicants
criminal records. The access of felonies is limited to those felonies committed
within a ten-year period and misdemeanors within a five-year period.
Information concerning convictions for murder, manslaughter, and certain sexual
offenses are not subject to the time limitations. CORI also requires that
employers retain records of their background checks. Employers that access
criminal records through iCORI must obtain acknowledgment forms from applicants
prior to viewing their criminal history on iCORI, and must retain those forms
for a year following the date the CORI is requested.
Congressman
Hansen Clark introduced H.R. 6220, the Ban the Box Act of 2012. Representative
Clark’s Legislation would prevent employers from inquiring about an applicant’s
criminal history until after the employer makes the applicant a “conditional
offer” for the job. The employer would
still have the right to “rescind” the offer if the applicants conviction
creates an “unreasonable risk” to the employers business interest. Representative
Clark wrote in a Washington Post Op Ed:
Earlier this
month, the Washington, D.C. city council voted down a bill to protect people
with criminal records from employment discrimination. Yet these protections
against employment discrimination are not only urgently needed in D.C., they
ought to be implemented on a federal level across the country… We can no longer
tolerate this cycle of joblessness and incarceration that is devastating our
communities and our economy. With 28.3 percent of arrests targeting African
Americans, more than double their percent of the population, discrimination
based on conviction records is a racial justice issue as well as an economic
crisis.
The Empirical Studies Support a National
Ban The Box Policy
In
a study conducted by Professor Devah Pager et al (Princeton University) titled: “Sequencing Disadvantage: Barriers to
Employment Facing Young Black and White Men with Criminal Records.”
They found that job applicants with convictions stood a much better chance of
being hired when the applicant has an opportunity to build a “Rapport” with the
employer in the interview phase of the hiring process. The National Employment
Law Project (NELP) recently released a report titled: “65 Million ‘Need Not Apply’: The Case For Reforming Criminal
Background Checks for Employment.” This report makes a powerful and
compelling argument that the population of people with criminal convictions is
so enormous that we as a country would be committing fiscal suicide to continue
to support laws and policies which keep 1/4th of the population of our country
unemployed or underemployed. In fact, many states are looking for ways to
reduce their over-inflated corrections budgets by implementing common-sense
policies which encourage employment of people with criminal past. NELP recently
released another report titled: “Ban
the Box: Major U.S. Cities and Counties Adopt Fair Hiring Policies to Remove
Unfair Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records.” The
report documents the progress of the Ban the Box movement in States, Cities and
Counties all across the country. According to the data in this report, New York
State (if it were to pass a Ban the Box law) would become one in only a few
states to pass the initiative “Statewide,” and along with Article 23-A of the
Corrections Law, will make New York State the absolute “Leader” in
anti-discrimination legislation in the country. Unfortunately, the ban the box
bills in the New York State Senate and Assembly have been hopelessly “stalled”
in Committees in both branches of our state legislature. The prison lobby has
great influence over many of our state legislators because many of them serve
in upstate districts where the prison industry is a popular source of
employment for their constituencies.
The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also
recently released a report titled:
“Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate.” this report
offers a clear look into the budgetary expenditures states and municipalities
allocate to incarcerating citizens as opposed to educating them.
The
Community Service Society recently released a report titled: “Only one in Four
young Black Men in New York City has a Job.” The CSSNY has taken a “Leadership”
role as it pertains to “Cutting-edge” advocacy for the poor and disenfranchised
in New York and around the country. The CSSNY remains as one of the “Top”
advocacy organizations in New York.
A
scientific study recently conducted by Professor Alfred Blumstein (Head of the
Justice Department of Heinz College/Carnegie Mellon University) and Co-Authored
by Kiminori Nakamura titled: “Redemption
in an Era of Widespread Criminal Background Checks.” This report
studied “Hazard rates” of formerly incarcerated individuals based on the amount
of time that elapses after incarceration or conviction. Professor Blumstein and
Mr. Nakamura found that the risk of recidivism decreases in 5 to 7 years, to
almost equal the hazard rate of non-offenders. They recommend the removal of
the “Brand” of “Offender” after 5 to 7 years, as one of the best ways to
promote desistance. In a New York Times Op Ed titled: “Paying a Price, Long After the Crime,” Professor Blumstein
and Mr. Nakamura wrote:
It is well
established that the risk of recidivism drops steadily with time, but there is
still the question of how long is long enough. By looking at data for more than
88,000 people who had their first arrest in New York State in 1980, and
tracking their subsequent criminal histories over the next 25 years, we
estimate the “redemption time” — the time it takes for an individual’s
likelihood of being arrested to be close to that of individuals with no
criminal records — to be about 10 to 13 years. We also found that about 30
percent of the first-time offenders in 1980 were never arrested again, in New
York or anywhere else.
In
2012 the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) updated it’s “Enforcement Guidance for the
Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964” The
EEOC concluded this about the use of criminal conviction records in hiring decisions:
Some states
require employers to wait until late in the selection process to ask about convictions.
The policy rationale is that an employer is more likely to objectively assess
the relevance of an applicant’s conviction if it becomes known when the
employer is already knowledgeable about the applicant’s qualifications and
experience. As a best practice, and consistent with applicable laws, the
Commission recommends that employers not ask about convictions on job
applications and that, if and when they make such inquiries, the inquiries be
limited to convictions for which exclusion would be job related for the
position in question and consistent with business necessity.
The
EEOC has also clarified their policy position–that the exclusion by employers
of people with a criminal record has a “disparate impact” on Blacks and
Latinos.
Martin
Luther King Jr. spent a large part of his civil rights struggle in defense of
fair employment, equality and justice. Punishing a person by denying them a
job, when that person has already paid their debt to society is “unjust.” Formerly
incarcerated people are treated as “second class citizens,” which makes them
“unequal.” Furthermore, to allow an employer to use a 10, 15 and oftentimes 20
year old offense in this climate of high unemployment when college graduates
with no criminal background are having a hard time finding employment; and as
an “only” reason to deny a person an income is simply unfair. Dr. King said:
In our society
it is murder psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that
he has no right to exist. You are in a
real way depriving him of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, denying
in his case the very creed of his society.
When
you are sworn in with Dr. Kings Bible next week, please consider what Dr. King died
doing. Dr. King was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was fighting for the
fair and equal treatment of sanitation workers.
Fiscal Implications of a National Ban
the Box Law.
The
benefits of a national Ban the Box policy are astounding. First, the
unemployment rate will drop dramatically almost overnight. Second, tax revenue
will be greatly increased by the employment of “millions” of able bodied
workers. Third, crime in general will continue its historic decline because it
has been established by advocates and social scientist alike that employment is
the best answer to recidivism. Fourth, state by state will find that their over
inflated prison budgets will be reduced when more of their citizens are
employed. Fifth, Mr. President, you will be credited with bringing our economy
back from recession to prosperity. Finally, fifth, but certainly not the least
of these, “millions” of American citizens will be able to pursue a better life
without the social stigma which arises as an added consequence of a criminal
conviction.
In Conclusion
Mr.
President, you have the power to solve the greatest civil rights challenge of
our time. Mr. President, I can go on and on citing study after study, from one
social scientist after another who support banning the box nationally. I am
only one of your constituents out of over 300 million nationally. You may not
even get to read this letter because of your busy schedule, but if I am blessed
that you do read this letter, please consider my request. Please utilize your
executive privilege and ban the box on public and private job applications.
Please require that an employer make a “conditional offer of employment” before
background inquiries can be made. Thank you for taking the time to read my
letter and I wish you all the best in your second term as our President.
Eric M. Deadwiley is a Freelance Op-Ed
Columnist, Investigative Reporter and Author of "Civil Death in New York
State, How New York State Utilizes Criminal Conviction Records to impede the
Economic Growth of Formerly Convicted People"
Contact: Eric
M. Deadwiley
