America is a land of second chances. Barriers to employment should not follow a person long after they have served their time, paid their debt to society, and started a new life. People deserve the freedom to redeem themselves.
However, one in three adults across our country has an arrest or conviction that makes it difficult to find a job. Take Kevin Miller for example, who was incarcerated for eight months in 1992 after a minor altercation with police officers. Kevin was only 19 at the time, but more than a quarter-century later, Kevin hasn’t been able to get a job because he must disclose his arrest on every job application.
Michael Mirsky faced similar hardships. He lost his job as a Verizon technician in 2012 after he pled guilty to resisting arrest during a disagreement over child support payments. In the years following the incident, he faced the foreclosure of his home and was shunned from his community. Even as the economy improved and more jobs became available, Mirsky was unable to find a permanent job and start rebuilding his life.
Stories like Kevin’s and Michael’s are all too common. In fact, more than 70 million people have minor criminal records that they must disclose on job applications. As a result, millions have been turned down from countless jobs for mistakes made decades ago.
The reluctance of employers to hire people with criminal records combined with job applications that contain “check the box” measures has detrimental effects on the economy and prevents millions of people from becoming productive members of society. Excluding them from the workforce often results in a return to crime and drugs.
A 2015 study found that in my home state of North Carolina, the recidivism rate for people referred and placed in jobs was approximately 36% lower than the recidivism rate for those not placed in jobs. The study also found that the sooner people released from prison found jobs, the better. Studies like this show that it is clearly in our country’s collective best interest to ensure people with minor criminal records find employment.
In addition, a 2017 survey found that businesses across the country are suffering from a shortage of skilled labor. As a result, many of the largest employers, such as Target and Home Depot, have banned “check the box” measures in their hiring practices and adopted second-chance hiring as their official policy.
For all of these reasons, I’m proud to cosponsor the Fair Chance Act, which prohibits the federal government and federal contractors from asking about a job applicant’s prior criminal record before a conditional offer of employment. This process humanizes applicants and gives them a chance to meet employers face to face and explain their past before employers make sweeping judgements based on one checked box.
We should aspire to build a society that encourages people who have served their time to get back to work and start a new life. This aspiration has been shared by multiple presidents, including former President George W. Bush who said in his 2004 State of the Union, “America is the land of second chances, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.”
As my colleagues go to conference over the National Defense Authorization Act, I urge them to include this bipartisan legislation as part of any final deal.
Rep. Ted Budd, a Republican, represents North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District.
