ABSTRACT

There has been a recent push toward placing restrictions on when and how employers can ask about job applicants’ criminal records. In our research, we asked hypothetical employers to evaluate job applicants so we could examine whether certain ‘ban the box’ practices increase the chances that formerly incarcerated individuals find jobs. Our results showed that an applicant with a drug conviction was more likely to be hired if his record was revealed after an interview rather than on the job application and if he explained the unusualness of his offense rather than if he provided no explanation (Studies 1 and 3). Further, we found that an interviewed applicant who explained his record was similarly likely to be hired regardless of whether he volunteered information about his record or it was discovered through a background check (Study 2). Finally, when equally qualified applicants were being considered at the initial application stage, the applicant without a criminal record was preferred even if the applicant with a record explained it (Study 4). These results indicate the importance of restricting access to criminal record information until after an applicant has been interviewed and in allowing the applicant to explain the unusualness of the offense.

摘要

最近有人推动限制雇主何时以及如何询问求职者的犯罪记录。在我们的研究中，我们要求假设的雇主评估求职者，以便我们可以检查某些“禁止盒子”做法是否会增加以前被监禁的人找到工作的机会。我们的研究结果表明，如果申请人在面试后而不是在工作申请中披露了他的记录，并且如果他解释了他的罪行的不寻常之处而不是他没有提供任何解释，那么他更有可能被雇用（研究 1 和3）。此外，我们发现，无论是自愿提供有关其记录的信息还是通过背景调查发现的（研究 2），解释其记录的受访申请人同样可能被录用。最后，当在初始申请阶段考虑同等资格的申请人时，即使有犯罪记录的申请人解释了这一点，无犯罪记录的申请人也会被优先考虑（研究 4）。这些结果表明，在与申请人面谈之前限制对犯罪记录信息的访问以及允许申请人解释犯罪的不寻常性的重要性。