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DeSoto TX Approves "Ban the Box" Policy – ESR NEWS
Written By ESR News Blog Editor Thomas Ahearn
On April 13, 2021, the City Council in DeSoto, Texas approved a “Ban the Box” hiring policy “to give everyone a fair chance at employment” by “removing the conviction history check-box from job applications. If employers must ask about convictions, they can ask later in the hiring process,” the North Dallas Gazette (NDG) reported.
“Ban the Box is a commonsense policy that aims to remove job barriers for people with records. DeSoto is joining hundreds of other cities and counties in implementing this policy to shift hiring practices so that we focus more on qualifications and less on something that happened in the past,” City Council Member Candice Quarles told NDG.
As of April 2021, 36 states and more than 150 cities and counties have Ban the Box laws so a job applicant’s qualifications may be viewed without the stigma of a criminal record, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP). In Texas, Austin, Dallas County, DeSoto, San Antonio, and Travis County passed Ban the Box laws.
Ban the Box laws and second chance programs that help allow ex-offenders with a prior criminal record an opportunity to find work will continue to evolve, according to leading global background check firm Employment Screening Resources® (ESR), which compiled the “ESR Top Ten Background Check Trends” for 2021.
ESR founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Attorney Lester Rosen and ESR Vice President of Strategic Growth Dawn Standerwick will host a webinar titled “ESR Top Ten Background Check Trends for 2021” on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time. To register for the webinar, click here.
Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) – which was ranked the #1 screening firm in 2020 by HRO Today – offers a white paper on “Ten Critical Steps for Ex-Offenders to Get Back into the Workforce,” an “ESR Ban the Box Resource Guide,” and a Ban the Box Resource Page. To learn more about ESR, visit www.esrcheck.com.
NOTE: Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) does not
provide or offer legal services or legal advice of any kind or nature. Any
information on this website is for educational purposes only.
© 2021 Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) – Making copies of or using any part of the ESR News Blog or ESR website for any purpose other than your own personal use is prohibited unless written authorization is first obtained from ESR.
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New York City Expands Protections Under Its Ban The Box Law For Applicants And Employees – Employment and HR – United States – Mondaq News Alerts
United States:
New York City Expands Protections Under Its Ban The Box Law For Applicants And Employees
06 April 2021
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
New York, N.Y. (April 5, 2021) – The New York
City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) is considered to be one of the most
progressive discrimination laws in the nation. Earlier this year,
the New York City Council passed a bill which expands the scope of
the New York City Fair Chance Act (FCA), more commonly known as the
“ban-the-box” law. The FCA prohibits most New York City
employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history
until after the employer extends a conditional offer of employment.
The amended FCA expands protections for both applicants and
employees with criminal backgrounds, including convictions, charges
and arrests. The amendments go into effect on July 28, 2021.
Existing FCA Regulations
The FCA initially took effect in October 2015 as an amendment to
the NYCHRL. The current FCA regulations incorporate existing New
York state criminal background provisions, including Article 23-A
of the New York Correction Law. The regulations set forth eight
factors that employers are required to assess when considering
taking an adverse action against an applicant based on arrest and
conviction history.
Amended FCA Regulations
The new amendments add “relevant fair chance” factors
that expand the FCA’s coverage and extend the law’s
protections to applicants and employees with pending arrests and
employees with criminal convictions. The relevant fair chance
factors to be considered are as follows:
- New York City’s policy to
overcome stigma toward and unnecessary exclusion of persons with
criminal justice involvement in the areas of licensure and
employment.
- The specific duties and
responsibilities necessarily related to the employment held by the
person.
- The bearing, if any, of the criminal
offense for which the applicant or employee was convicted, or that
is alleged in the case of pending arrests or criminal accusations,
on the applicant or employee’s fitness or ability to perform
one or more such duties or responsibilities.
- Whether the person was 25 years old
or younger at the time the criminal offense at issue
occurred.
- The seriousness of the offense.
- The legitimate interest of the public
agency or private employer in protecting property and the safety
and welfare of specific individuals or the general public.
- Any additional information produced
by the applicant or employee, or produced on their behalf, as to
their rehabilitation or good conduct, including a history of
positive performance and conduct on the job or in the community, or
any other evidence of good conduct.
Under the current FCA, an employer may withdraw a conditional
job offer if there is a relationship between the prior conviction
and the job being sought. However, under the amended FCA, the
employer may only rescind a conditional job offer after considering
the fair chance factors described above and after determining
“that either (i) there is a direct relationship between the
alleged wrongdoing that is the subject of the pending arrest or
criminal accusation and the employment sought or held by the
person; or (ii) the granting or continuation of the employment
would involve an unreasonable risk to property or to the safety or
welfare of specific individuals or the general public.”
The law is also broadened with respect to the scope of
“criminal history,” which will now include pending
arrests and other criminal accusations. As a result, employers are
prohibited from taking adverse employment actions against an
applicant or an employee for violations, non-criminal offenses,
non-pending arrests or criminal accusations, adjournments in
contemplation of dismissal, youthful offender adjudications or
sealed offenses, if disclosure of such matters would violate the
New York State Human Rights Law.
Failure to comply with the law subjects employers to the full
range of penalties available under the NYCHRL, including possible
lawsuits in which compensatory and punitive damages and
attorneys’ fees can be awarded.
Employer Takeaway
Employers should revise their policies and procedures to comply
with the FCA amendments and train managers, supervisors and human
resources personnel about changes made to its policies, including
what questions can be asked at interviews and what information can
be included in job listings.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
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The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) includes a 100% COBRA subsidy for “assistance eligible individuals” during the six-month period of April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021.
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Cybercriminals spearphishing business professionals on LinkedIn with fake job offers – Security Magazine
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Justice Impact Movement, YCC call on Yale to 'ban the box' in admissions – Yale Daily News
Yale Daily News
The Justice Impact Movement and the Yale College Council are calling on Yale admissions to ban questions about an applicant’s criminal record, in a new report and through a meeting with Yale admissions officials.
JIM is an initiative associated with the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project that focuses on eliminating barriers to education for formerly incarcerated people. Over the past month, JIM collaborated with the YCC to issue a report recommending that Yale “ban the box” — meaning that they remove questions about criminal record — from the Yale College application. Ban the Box is a national campaign which seeks to reduce the collection of criminal justice information in applications for jobs and universities by removing the “box” that formerly-incarcerated people must check to indicate that they have been convicted of a crime.
“Education is crucial for the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated people into society, which benefits justice-impacted people themselves as well as their families and communities,” the JIM and YCC report read. “Specifically, we believe institutions of higher learning should not discriminate against otherwise qualified candidates for admission solely based on prior interaction with the justice system.”
On March 30, members of the YCC and JIM met with representatives from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to advocate for the removal of an inquiry on Yale’s application into applicants’ disciplinary histories. According to Grace Freedman ’24, JIM founder and executive director, the meeting was “really productive” and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions plans to revisit the topic later in the semester.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan confirmed to the News that the meeting occurred but declined to comment further on the matter.
During the 2019-2020 admissions cycle, the Common Application permanently removed its criminal history question. However, Yale still includes a criminal history question in the Yale-specific section of the Common Application. The question asks applicants, “Have you ever been convicted of, or pled guilty or no contest to, a misdemeanor or felony, or are there any criminal charges pending against you?”
“The very collection of criminal justice information has a chilling effect on prospective students who believe that Yale will not admit them because of their previous interactions with the justice system,” said YCC Vice-President Reilly Johnson ’22.
Johnson has overseen the YCC’s engagement with JIM on this initiative, establishing a task force composed of YCC Senators and JIM members. Task force members drafted the comprehensive report, which provides background on the issue and formally asks Yale Undergraduate Admissions to “ease the collection and usage of criminal justice information.”
According to Johnson, the report also presents secondary recommendations in case the task force’s demand that the Office of Undergraduate Admissions “ban the box” entirely is unsuccessful. These include collecting criminal justice information only after students have accepted their offers of admission, limiting inquiries about criminal history to specific offenses like stalking or sexual assault and “re-evaluating how and in what contexts criminal justice information is used.”
Melat Eskender ’24, a Morse College senator and member of the task force, emphasized the racially disproportionate effect of the collection of criminal justice information.
“This issue is important to me because, as a Black woman, I know intimately how my community is overpoliced and disproportionately incarcerated,” Eskender said. “Racial inequality is so pervasive in the criminal justice system that it is impossible for the inquiry and usage of criminal justice information in college applications to be a race-neutral practice.”
According to Eskender, the Office of Admissions seemed open to adopting the policies of institutions like New York University, which does not include criminal justice information in their first reading of undergraduate applications.
Eskender also noted that the task force cares “immensely” about campus safety. She noted that the only study conducted on the relationship between criminal record screening and campus safety did not find a statistical difference in the rate of campus crime between institutions that did or did not collect criminal justice information. The study, a 2015 report from the Center for Community Alternatives, found that crimes committed on college campuses are more often committed by students without prior criminal records.
“There is no reason that formerly incarcerated or justice-impacted individuals should be discouraged from receiving a degree,” said Zoe Hsu ’24, the YCC equity chair. “Five states and 50 universities have already banned the box; Yale should follow suit.”
Universities that have banned the box include the University of California system and the State University of New York system.
Although JIM and the YCC’s report was Yale-specific, JIM is also pursuing more general ways to ban the box in higher education. Freedman has authored and proposed “H.B. 6228: Ban the Box in Higher Education,” a bill in the Connecticut State Legislature that prohibits higher education institutions from using information about criminal history in admissions and financial aid decisions.
Should H.B. 6228 pass and become law, it would force Yale and other Connecticut institutions to ban the box in admissions. However, Freedman hopes that Yale will choose to do so regardless.
“Hopefully, we will have legislation that passes and that will be implemented the following year,” Freedman said. “But we’re trying to make it so that Yale can lead on this before they are just pushed legally to do it — they could actually stand up and lead in this fight for increasing access to higher education.”
The Connecticut Legislative Session will last until June 9.
Amelia Davidson | amelia.davidson@yale.edu
Lucy Hodgman | lucy.hodgman@yale.edu
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FBI Warns Of Surge In Job-Seekers Getting Scammed By Bogus Employers – CBS Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) — As the COVID-19 pandemic raged across Illinois in 2020, record numbers of residents were losing jobs and filing for unemployment. Meantime, scams targeting this massive pool of new job seekers also surged.
Hundreds across Illinois have lost money to these scams. In 2019, according to the FBI, 388 job seekers in Illinois were scammed out of $631,000. In 2020, during the deadliest health and economic crises in decades, the numbers jumped to 533, and scammers hit the innocent for a whooping $1.68 million.
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CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker will be reporting on this issue Monday at 10 p.m. and found the one safeguard that is supposed to protect victims isn’t working. She spoke with several people who were targeted in the scams.
Since early 2019, victims have reported numerous examples of this scam to the FBI. The average reported loss natioanlly was nearly $3,000 per victim, in addition to damage to the victims’ credit scores. Consumers have reported to the FTC that they lost more than $610 million to these scams since 2016, with reported losses of more than $150 million in the first nine months of 2020.
Overall, employment scams of all types–not just job-seeking schemes–increased from about 14,500 victims nationwide to nearly 17,000 in 2020, according to the FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report. The victims losses also surged from $46.6 million to $62.3 million.
Fake job or hiring scams occur when criminals deceive victims into believing they have a job or a potential job. Criminals leverage their position as bogus employers to persuade victims to provide them with personal information or to send them money.
READ MORE: Person Shot And Killed By Police In Little Village Identified As 13-Year-Old Adam Toledo
Cyber criminals now pose as legitimate employers by spoofing company websites and posting fake job openings on popular online job boards, according to the FBI. They conduct false interviews with unsuspecting applicant victims, then request personal ID information or money. With the personal data, scammers can taking over the victims’ accounts, opening new financial accounts, or using the victims’ identity to obtain fake driver’s licenses or passports.
Criminals first spoof a legitimate company’s website by creating a domain name similar in appearance to a legitimate company. Then they post fake job openings on popular job boards that direct applicants to the spoofed sites. Applicants can apply on the spoofed company websites or directly on the job boards. Applicants are contacted by email to conduct a remote interview.
After being interviewed by cyber criminals, victims are offered jobs, usually in a work-at-home capacity. In order to appear legitimate, the criminals send victims an employment contract to physically sign, and also request a copy of the victims’ driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, direct deposit information, and credit card information. Criminals may also tell victims they need to pay upfront for background checks or screenings, job training, start-up equipment, or supplies. In many cases, victims are told they will be reimbursed in their first paycheck. Once they get money, criminals stop communicating with their victims.
What should raise red flags for job seekers?
- Interviews are not conducted in-person or through a secure video call.
- Interviews are conducted via applications that use email addresses instead of phone numbers.
- Potential employers contact victims through non-company email domains and teleconference applications.
- Potential employers require employees to purchase start-up equipment from the company.
- Potential employers request credit card information.
- Job postings appear on job boards, but not on the companies’ websites.
- Recruiters or managers do not have profiles on the job board, or the profiles do not seem to fit their roles.
What can people do to protect themselves?
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- Conduct a web search of the hiring company using the company name only.
- Legitimate companies will ask for PII and bank account information for payroll purposes AFTER hiring employees.
- Never send money to someone you meet online, especially by wire transfer.
- Never provide credit card information to an employer.
- Never provide bank account information to employers without verifying their identity.
Victims of a hiring scam, can file a report to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
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10 Dream Jobs From Movies And TV Shows, According To Reddit – Screen Rant
There is nothing more enjoyable than getting immersed in a good movie or TV show after a long day of hard work. And while everyone knows how fun it can be to become lost in a good fictional story, one of the most underrated and entertaining elements of enjoying these works is daydreaming about cool jobs and professions that its characters occupy.
RELATED: 13 Coolest Sci-Fi Movie Jobs Of All Time
In fact, one of the reasons for this is the sheer contrast that these fantastic (and sometimes terrible) fictional jobs offering an irresistible way of escape reality. Therefore, it’s no wonder many Redditors already took to asking and answering the question of what everyone’s favorite fictional dream jobs would be. And with some answers being too fun to pass up, there are just a few that needed to be shared with the world.
10 Dream Extractor (Inception)
A Reddit user (who has since deleted their account), took this question a bit too literally, providing what is easily one of the best and wittiest answers on this list. For them, the best “dream job” would be “a professional dream thief like in Inception.” However, many would agree that this 2010 blockbuster profession can have a few moral implications (since the dream thief essentially means sneaking into other people’s dreams and tricking the person into unintentionally giving up their secrets).
But could some argue that there are ways a “dream extractor” could be used for positive means? It’s possible. Psychologists and other mental health specialists might use the “extractor” as a therapeutic technique to help people with their problems. Some may also argue that they will prefer to be “an architect of dreams” and help the subjects achieve what they have always imagined.
9 Looper Assassin (Looper)
Redditor u/DA3DALUSxGAMER says: “Call me crazy, but I would totally be down with becoming a Looper Assassin. I understand the consequences, but just imagine the cash!”
Sure, being a hardcore hitman who is trained to kill time-traveling victims might sound exciting to some people, especially since payment comes in silver and golden bars. However, this morally questionable career comes with a price, which means that after 30 years of luxurious life, the looper will share the same destiny as his anonymous victims. No wonder this job is not among the popular ones on Reddit since only a few people would be comfortable with the consequences of “closing a loop” (or even kiling).
8 Toy Tester (Big)
The idea for this one came from u/paper_swan, who suggests that becoming a Toy Tester in the movie Big is a way more interesting and glamorous profession. Not only would testing every kind of cool toy imaginable be an amazing job for anyone in the real world, but it was also the dream job of the movie’s protagonist Josh (Tom Hanks), whose massive paycheck allowed him to move to his own place, full of toys, including his own pinball machine.
7 Gardener In Hobbiton (The Lord Of The Ring)
For many individuals, a quiet and peaceful job in nature is where it’s at. However, Reddit u/armypantsnflipflops took that notion to a whole new level when they suggested their dream job would be “Gardener, in Hobbiton. Living that peaceful life.” In Tolkien’s works, this is indeed described as a real (and rather noble) family profession, carried over from generation to generation by “The Gardeners of the Hill” – descendants of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton.
RELATED: Harry Potter: Wizarding World Careers Lord of the Rings Characters Would Excel In
Even Tolkien himself was very fond of the profession, describing himself in his letter as a Hobbit due to his love of nature, gardening, trees, and of course, pipes. In fact, he also considered gardening to be a highly noble profession too. So if it’s good enough for Tolkien, it’s good enough for anyone else.
6 Any Job From Jurassic Park
According to u/specialtomebabe, “pretty much every job on Jurassic Park,” would qualify as a dream job. Just imagine being hired by John Hammond and given the freedom to design the park however you want.
There are, in fact, several jobs one can occupy in Jurassic Park, including Chaotician, Geneticist, Paleobotanist, and Paleontologist. Working with animals day in and day out is already cool enough, but imagine working in a prehistoric environment with literal dinosaurs roaming around.
5 Hogwarts Professor (Harry Potter)
Here’s one most Potterheads will definitely agree on. There’s no better job than being a Hogwarts professor. According to u/ mightyandpowerful, their reasoning is that “you get free room and board AND no one seems to care whether you’re actually a good teacher or not.”
RELATED: Harry Potter: The Professors, Ranked By Likability
The best part is that this profession can accommodate almost any personality and talent given the scope of different and unique teaching positions at Hogwarts. For example, Reddit user PrincessPuglet dreams of being “Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts. Once Hagrid retires, of course.”
4 Auror (Harry Potter)
Given how popular the professions from the Harry Potter world are among Redditors, one more dream job is in order. This one comes from u/asianfromthecongo, who would love to be “an Auror from the Harry Potter series.” For those unfamiliar with this fictional profession, an Auror is basically a detective or law-enforcement-official appointed by the Ministry of Magic, on the hunt for magical criminals. The training for an Auror is extremely extensive and exhaustive, meaning only the best wizards can qualify for the position.
Yet, despite all the dangers and challenges that this job would bring, it’s easy to see why it would be a popular choice. After all, it’s the profession Harry himself chose after the events of the books and so did his best pal Ron.
3 Ghostbuster (Ghostbusters)
This dream job idea comes from Reddit user Bazoodle who was “extremely surprised no one else has said this.” And while being a Ghostbuster definitely qualifies as cool, it’s probably not everyone’s dream job for a good reason. As another Reddit user named kjata replies, “Not a whole lot of people willing to strap particle accelerators to their backs every day.”
It’s worth noting that anyone brave enough to put on the uniform and grab those ghost vacuums should be prepared for some scary paranormal encounters as well as getting slimed on a daily basis.
2 MiB Agent (Men In Black)
Speaking of paranormal, what’s cooler than working for a top-secret organization monitoring and hiding extraterrestrial life on Earth? The idea for this dream job came from u/Kapadia1995A, who chose the 1997 blockbuster Men in Black because “it’s like being a cop but the victims and perpetrators are mostly aliens.”
The sheer number of different aliens and creative tactics they use to hide their existence on this planet, such as all postmen being aliens or taking the form of talking pugs, is astonishing. Add to that time and space travel and the adventure never ends.
1 The Doctor’s Companion (Doctor Who)
While on the topic of time and space travel, there’s one TV franchise that takes that notion to a far greater extreme than any other – Doctor Who. For Reddit user ljahb, being the Doctor’s companion would be a dream job. And while there’s a lot of merit to this answer, it’s probably better described as a dream side gig, given how most of the Doctor’s companions kept their day jobs and only traveled with him in their free time. For example, Clara kept teaching, Amy modeled, and Rory continued nursing. Plus, who wouldn’t want to spend time exploring the entire universe in their spare time.
NEXT: The Big Bang Theory: Which Character Has The Best Paid Job, Ranked?
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About The Author
Maja Cacic
(16 Articles Published)
Maja is a writer, historian, and massive bibliophile from Croatia. Her experience in writing book reviews and her passion for topics such as gaming, entertainment, and pop culture (especially anything zombie-related) led her to Screen Rant where she works as a list writer. Her spare time is consumed by reading, working out the plot for her next short story, writing slightly cheesy poetry, or binging Netflix shows with her cats.
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'One more thing': Apple can't stop Swatch trademark of Steve Jobs slogan – Business Insider
David Paul Morris/Getty Images
- Apple cannot block Swiss watchmaker Swatch from trademarking the phrase “one more thing” in the UK.
- Steve Jobs, the Apple cofounder, who died in 2011, often used the phrase during product reveals.
- A UK judge on Monday said Apple couldn’t block Swatch, even if the Swiss firm was trying to “annoy” Apple.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Apple has lost a legal bid to stop the Swiss watchmaker Swatch using Steve Jobs’ famous “one more thing” catchphrase in a trademark.
Apple cofounder Jobs, who died in 2011, often said “one more thing” at the end of an Apple presentation before announcing a surprising new product. When Swatch filed to trademark the phrase in the UK, Apple objected, and the battle went to court.
Judge Iain Purvis said in his ruling on Monday that Swatch may have tried to “annoy” Apple with its trademark, but that Apple can’t block the Swiss watchmaker from using it, Bloomberg first reported.
Purvis overturned a previous court ruling. He said that a previous court officer was wrong to say that “Swatch’s intentions had stepped over the line between the appropriate and inappropriate use of a trade mark,” per Bloomberg.
The London judge added that the phrase may have originated from the 1970s fictional television detective Columbo, who was known for catching criminals and saying, “just one more thing.”
Read more: Apple will never deliver a car because it can’t figure out how to work with the automakers who could make it happen
A Swatch spokesperson declined Insider’s request to comment. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The feud is part of a long-running dispute between Apple and Swatch over the naming of their watches. Swatch managed to block Apple from naming a new watch “iWatch” in 2014, as it was ruled too similar to the iSwatch, per Bloomberg.
The argument stretched to other trademarks, including Swatch’s decision to use the slogan “Tick Different,” which Apple claimed was too similar to its own slogan, “Think Different.” Apple also lost this battle.
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CORDOVA: Pushing to “ban the box” – Yale Daily News
“So pervasive is the racial inequality in the criminal justice system, it is impossible for the inquiry and usage of criminal justice information in college applications to be a race-neutral practice” states a joint report from the Justice Impact Movement, also known as JIM, and Yale College Council. People with a history of system involvement are three times less likely to finish a college application after starting than those without, all because of a single question asking about their past. Most of these prospective students belong to nonwhite minorities, feeding the issue of skewed demographics in higher education. JIM, a subgroup within the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project, encourages institutions of higher education to “ban the box” and promote a fairer system in the U.S. We want to break down the barriers to higher education for justice-impacted individuals. Such change starts with a new bill in the Connecticut General Assembly.
H.B. 6228, a Senate bill referred to the Committee on Higher Education and Employment Advancement, prohibits higher education institutions from using criminal justice history in admissions and financial aid decisions and establishes a state-wide Prison Education Program Office to help run programs within Connecticut prisons. The Program Office would help incarcerated scholars with re-entry and financial aid while also developing a process by which such students may field complaints about any of the university-led education programs. Yale students are likely familiar with YUPP, which fights inequities in the criminal justice system through education programs and organized activism; this new bill works towards similar goals, pushing to end discrimination in higher education and provide opportunities to those who are justice-impacted.
The criminal “justice” system in America disproportionately affects minority communities, and the struggles that follow incarceration — including barring from jobs and higher education — turn even the shortest sentences into lifetime ones. In the United States, the incarceration rates for African Americans are more than five times higher than that of white Americans, and almost 75 percent of those who reenter society are unable to find a job within the following year. A Black man our age, 18 to 19 years old, is nearly 12 times more likely to be incarcerated right now than his white peer.
Knowledge is power, and an education can help those who have lost years of their lives to an unfair system build a more stable future. Higher education is among the best ways to improve quality of life for justice-impacted individuals. Those without feasible opportunity are more likely to reenter the system later on. When institutions, companies and governments exclude justice-impacted individuals from educational and monetary opportunities, they inherently reinforce racism and heighten the chances of recidivism.
The reasoning behind criminal history questions on school applications is widely unknown, although many institutions state “campus safety” as the primary concern. However, reports show that campus crimes are actually more likely to be committed by students who are not justice-impacted. Furthermore, schools that have already banned the box have seen no significant change in crime rates, and the related application questions are often far too broad to be relevant to such concerns. More than 50 schools, along with the state of Louisiana and the organization that manages the Common App, have removed criminal history questions from their applications, yet none in the Ivy League have. Universities like ours ought to be places where people can learn and grow, regardless of the path they took to get here.
JIM, founded under the National Justice Impact Bar Association, pushes to end discrimination in higher education, and after discussions with Yale’s College Council about “banning the box” in Yale admissions, we decided to push our agenda statewide. We recognize that racial equity is closely intertwined with educational opportunity, and to continue the fight for social justice in America, minority communities must be allowed to gain an education. By asking students about their criminal history, Connecticut universities both discourage and discriminate against those who might benefit most from an education. The new bill in the Connecticut General Assembly could be life-changing for thousands of justice-impacted individuals. Banning the box on college applications and establishing a Prison Education Program Office would make getting a degree much more accessible to currently and formerly incarcerated people. This is an important opportunity for universities to reckon with the effects of a racialized criminal justice system and do their part in making the American education system more equitable. We can start with H.B. 6228.
ELIZABETH CORDOVA is a sophomore in Grace Hopper College. Contact her at elizabeth.cordova@yale.edu.
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