The Movement to Employ Ex-Convicts
One of the gifts of participating in Focus’ Leadership St. Louis has been getting to know leaders in the community, like Napoleon Williams III, who strive to be game changers in the region’s development. As Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Connections to Success, an organization that provides resources, training, services and support for individuals from challenging backgrounds who are trying to re-enter society and the work force, Napoleon has made a strong impression on me and the way I think about hiring ex-cons.
At St. Louis Staffing, we have always followed hiring processes that consider the merits of the individual, regardless of background. I posted previously that I believe everyone should have the opportunity to do meaningful work. But I also know that it’s hard to argue against people’s biases about those with felony records. Concerns about recidivism and security are legitimate. No one wants to take unnecessary risk. As a CEO, I empathize with the need to prioritize the health of the company. What Napoleon has taught me, however, is that hiring ex-cons isn’t just the moral thing to do because it gives people a second chance. It’s also the economical thing to do.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, loss of employment for people with criminal records costs us $65 billion dollars per year in terms of gross domestic product. Not to mention the more than $80 billion dollars this country spends every year on incarcerating people. But giving people jobs helps reduce the odds that they will end up back in jail. In fact, research shows that once someone previously convicted of non-violent property and drug offenses has stayed crime-free for three or four years, the risk of them going back to jail is no different than the rest of the population. As Napoleon pointed out to me, many of those who are trying to re-enter the work force have a “heightened awareness of making good decisions and doing the right thing.”
The reality is, there are many advantages to employers considering hiring ex-offenders. Those that are on probation or parole have a second layer of accountability, such as a parole officer, who ensures that they are drug tested and maintaining stable housing. Companies can be eligible for tax credits amounting to a few thousand dollars a year through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for hiring a convict within a year of release from prison. And Connections to Success showed in a recent study that there was a return on investment of $3.15 for each dollar invested in the organization’s services.
With so many people in this country affected by the criminal justice system, there are a lot of individuals, families, and jobs at stake. It surprised me to learn that almost one in three adults in the U.S. has a criminal record that will show up on a routine criminal background check. That’s the kind of thing that makes it very hard to get hired. As I wrote previously, there has been a big effort to ‘ban the box’ on employment applications, which requires job seekers to say whether they’ve been convicted of a felony. Fortunately, there’s a growing movement on both the left and right to enact criminal justice reform, for example through the REDEEM act. Some major corporations, including Walmart, Target and Home Depot have instituted fair chance hiring policies. They all seem to understand that, as Napoleon put it, “These people want to make a living and provide for their families. By excluding them from the opportunity to do that, we’re exacerbating the problem.”
If it’s about making good decisions and doing the right thing, then hiring an ex-con may be a way for employers to do both.
