Derike Anderson (pictured) came to City Hall to support a proposal to “ban the box” — the space on job applications asking if one is a convicted felon. The aldermanic Human Services Committee supported it, too, and sent it for consideration by the full board.
Anderson was one of almost two dozen people who testified Tuesday night in favor of the proposal presented by Community Services Administrator Kica Matos. It would require all city departments and private companies doing business with the city to remove the box from job applications, unless they get a waiver. The point of the proposal is to help level the playing field for ex-offenders. Click here for background on the proposal.
The committee’s vote was unanimous.
Matos said the proposal would move the criminal background check from the very beginning of the interview process to the end, “once the city has determined that the person is otherwise qualified for the job and a conditional offer of employment has been made…. If a criminal history check comes back positive, the Human Services office must determine whether or not the conviction is job-related.” The process would allow an applicant to present a rebuttal if the offer of employment is withdrawn.
Matos reported that in the year beginning July 2007, 1,800 inmates were released to New Haven. Getting a job can make the difference between whether they become productive, law-abiding citizens or commit new crimes and return return to prison, she said. The “box” has a disproportionate impact on African-Americans and Latinos, because they are imprisoned at a higher rate than whites.
Deborah Marcuse (pictured on the right, with Matos on the left) is working on a broader prison re-entry plan with the city as a Liman fellow. She testified at Tuesday night’s hearing that passing this ordinance would essentially put New Haven in conformity with federal anti-discrimination laws.
One person after another testified that having to confront the box creates a sense of hopelessness for ex-offenders. “I can’t even tell you how I feel just to even look at that box on an application,” said Derike Anderson. “It’s almost like all hope is lost, because I gotta answer that question … I feel if that question wasn’t there, I’d have half a chance, just to get myself in the door and into an interview, I think I can sell myself very well.”
Joseph Burgeson (pictured) said he is a lifelong New Haven resident who has been in and out of prison.
“Every time I fill out an application, and I see that question, it’s very discouraging. Prison is a bad experience; prison beats you up. When a guy, or a woman, goes to prison, they’re just gone, as far as society is concerned.”
He said he wants to work, but with a criminal record, “Our debt is never paid.” He said he agrees that the “box” discriminates more against racial minorities. “But I’m a minority in being an ex-offender, and if they’re going to use that to disqualify me [from employment], it doesn’t matter what my race is.”
Criminal justice advocate Barbara Fair said she had personal experience with “the box.” She said she had been falsely arrested a decade ago and charged with a felony. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, but was able to get a pardon. Still, she said the information about her record had likely gone out beyond the control of the parole board. Perhaps that explained why, with a long work history and a master’s degree in social work, she still found it very hard to get hired in a new job, she suggesed. She added that it “stings” when individuals with connections or status are convicted of crimes but get off with no prison time, while poor and minority youth go to prison at disproportionate rates, setting them on a lifelong path of disappointment and rejection – and often sending them back to a life of crime.
“This is a first step,” said Fair (pictured), “in hopefully changing the outlook for kids and giving our youth some hope that because I messed up once, I’m not going to be stained for the rest of my life.”
She closed with another personal story. “I have three sons who have been involved in drug dealing in the past. They applied for city employment that allows you to hire ex-offenders. They all have jobs — one of them is working two jobs — and never, ever went back to the street. They didn’t have to, because they had a job that could take care of their families.”
Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield asked if passage of the ordinance could open the city to lawsuits filed by disgruntled applicants who go through the “back and forth” process regarding their criminal backgrounds and have a job offer withdrawn. Matos said city officials had spoken to officials in Boston, which has a similar ordinance applying to both the city and private vendors who supply goods or services to the city. “Boston has had no complaints or lawsuits,” she said.
Marcuse added that the National Employment Law Project reports there has been no litigation stemming from any of the several cities that have instituted their own similar ordinances.
The full board is scheduled to take the proposal up on March 2.
Do we not pay enough taxes in New Haven to expect the city will hire the best possible people? Are you telling me the best possible people for what should be a shrinking work force at City Hall, are the serial abusers, rapists, drug dealers and others with nefarious backgrounds? Why bring race into this discussion?
At a time when we have a black man heading the
GOP, a black man as President, a black man as Attorney General to name but a few, it is disgraceful that Kica and others who push these marginal city policies always inject race into these decisions as if that has any basis whatsoever in the decision. If this is what drives Community Services, perhaps it's time to get off the public payroll and back into a race based advocacy business.
It's tough finding a job when you're a felon. I understand that. It's also the price you pay for being anti-social, not following the rules and abusing the public through the choices you make.