The mark of a criminal record is clearly harmful for employment. The reasons for employer aversion, however, are not well established even though legal, policy, and scholarly responses rely on particular explanations. We propose that explanations for aversion often fit under a repetition risk framework in which employers use records as neutral sources of information about prior illegal activity and make decisions to minimize risk of similar future conduct. A second explanation is stigma, in which the records themselves, independent of conduct, trigger stereotypes, status loss, and discrimination. Using an experimental employer survey, we find that employers evaluate applicants with records more negatively than they do applicants with similar behavior signaled through non‐criminal‐justice sources (e.g., social media); this effect remains after accounting for predictions about future conduct. It is also most apparent among higher status jobs rather than among manual labor jobs, and it persists after adjusting for firm‐level and legal constraints. We conclude that aversion reflects not only repetition risk but also the stigma of criminal justice contact. Insofar as criminal record screening is not exclusively a form of rational risk management, this finding may lead to altered assessments of the benefits of screening relative to the costs of perpetuating inequality produced by the criminal justice system.

中文翻译：

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雇主对犯罪记录的厌恶：机制的实验研究

犯罪记录的标记显然对就业有害。然而，尽管法律，政策和学术上的回应依赖于特定的解释，但对雇主厌恶的原因仍未完全确定。我们建议，对厌恶的解释通常适用于重复风险框架，在该框架中，雇主使用记录作为有关先前非法活动的中立信息源，并做出决策以最大程度地减少类似未来行为的风险。第二种解释是污名，其中记录本身独立于行为，触发刻板印象，地位丧失和歧视。通过一项实验性雇主调查，我们发现，与那些通过非刑事司法渠道（例如社交媒体）表明具有类似行为的申请人相比，与记录类似的申请人对雇主的评价更为负面。在考虑了有关未来行为的预测之后，这种影响仍然存在。在高级职位而不是体力劳动中，这一点也是最明显的，并且在调整了公司层面和法律的约束之后，这种现象仍然存在。我们得出的结论是，反感不仅反映了重复风险，还反映了刑事司法联系的污名。就犯罪记录筛选而言，并非仅是合理风险管理的一种形式，这一发现可能导致相对于刑事司法系统造成的永久性不平等成本，对筛查收益的评估发生了变化。我们得出的结论是，厌恶不仅反映了重复风险，还反映了刑事司法联系的污名。只要犯罪记录筛选不仅是合理风险管理的一种形式，这一发现就可能导致相对于刑事司法系统造成的永久性不平等成本，对筛选利益的评估发生变化。我们得出的结论是，反感不仅反映了重复风险，还反映了刑事司法联系的污名。只要犯罪记录筛选不仅是合理风险管理的一种形式，这一发现就可能导致相对于刑事司法系统造成的永久性不平等成本，对筛选利益的评估发生变化。