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，人们开始限制雇主何时和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“禁箱”做法是否增加了以前被监禁的人找到工作的机会。我们的结果表明，如果在面试后透露自己的记录而不是在工作申请中透露自己的记录，并且如果他解释了自己的罪行的特殊性而不是不提供解释，则更可能被雇用有毒品定罪的申请人（研究1和3）。此外，我们发现，解释了自己记录的受采访申请人很可能会被录用，无论他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）。最后，当在初始申请阶段考虑具有同等资格的申请人时，即使没有记录的申请人也可以优先考虑，即使有记录的申请人对此进行了解释（研究4）。这些结果表明，限制访问犯罪记录信息的重要性，直到对申请人进行面谈之后，并允许申请人解释犯罪的不寻常性。