scholarly journals Does “Ban the Box” Help or Hurt Low-Skilled Workers? Statistical Discrimination and Employment Outcomes When Criminal Histories are Hidden

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Doleac ◽  
Benjamin Hansen
2003 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 1651-1668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mizuki Kawabata

Focusing on low-skilled workers, I present an empirical analysis of the relationship between transit-based job accessibility and employment outcomes for workers without automobiles. The metropolitan areas examined are Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Two essential components of the analysis are the calculation of refined job-access measures that take into account travel modes as well as the supply and demand of the labor market, and the incorporation of job-access measures into multinomial logit models. The results indicate that improved transit-based job accessibility significantly augments both the probability of being employed and the probability of working 30 hours or more per week for autoless workers in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Further, in these two areas, job accessibility has a greater effect for autoless workers than for auto-owning workers. Job accessibility plays a more significant role in employment outcomes for autoless workers in San Francisco and Los Angeles, highly auto-dependent areas, than it does in Boston, a more compact area with relatively well-developed transit systems. The empirical findings hold important implications for the theory and policy debate surrounding spatial mismatch.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Raphael

I review the growing body of research that either directly assesses the effect of Ban the Box (BTB) on the employment prospects of those with criminal histories, tests for spillover effects operating through statistical discrimination, or assesses the labor-market impacts of related screening practices. I begin with a theoretical discussion that works through how widespread reluctance to hire those with criminal histories is likely to generate market-level employment and earnings penalties for various groups of workers, and how the size and distribution of these penalties likely depend on the information available to employers. I then turn to a review of research over the past 15 years or so that either directly assesses the impact of BTB or address highly related and relevant research questions. The weight of the empirical evidence suggests that BTB does not improve the employment prospects of those with criminal histories at private-sector employers, although there is some evidence of an improvement in employment prospects in the public sector. Regarding spillover effects operating through statistical discrimination, several studies indicate that BTB harms the employment prospects of African-American men. Furthermore, research on the effects of credit checks, occupational licensing, and drug testing appear to indicate that more information available to the employer improves the employment prospects of African Americans. Collectively, these findings imply that in the absence of objective information, employers place weight on stereotypes about the characteristics of black workers that are generally negative and inaccurate. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 4 is January 13, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


Author(s):  
Dana L. Formon ◽  
Adam T. Schmidt ◽  
Craig Henderson

Researchers have found providing employment opportunities for ex-offenders through job training programs to be effective at reducing recidivism. Examining various community-based programs for ex-offenders can be beneficial as they may be able to provide more stable and consistent programming without relying on the justice system. This study examined employment outcomes of graduates with and without criminal histories ( n = 617) from a community-based vocational training program. Results showed that ex-offender graduates obtained employment at equal rates to nonoffender graduates and received equal pay to their nonoffender counterparts. This could indicate that for the vocationally educated ex-offender, employment outcomes may be able to equal those of other job-searching individuals with similar backgrounds but without a criminal history. Community-based programs for ex-offenders may be able to provide effective programming to improve vocational attainment within this group, thereby potentially easing the burden on criminal justice institutions as the sole provider of offender rehabilitation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-53
Author(s):  
Glacia Ethridge ◽  
Angel Riddick Dowden ◽  
Michael Brooks

Individuals with criminal histories who struggle to gain employment may choose to turn to illegal activity or seek state and federal program assistance to support themselves and their families. African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos with disabilities and criminal histories experience barriers (i.e., disability, criminal history, and race/ethnicity) that often prevent them from obtaining or maintaining competitive integrated employment. The purpose of this article was to examine the extant literature pertinent to disability and criminal history as employment obstacles among African American and Hispanic/Latino ex-offenders. As the foundation, the article categorizes employment outcomes for these target population by disability and criminal history, discusses how state vocational rehabilitation agencies can develop a criminal history service delivery model to improve employment outcomes, presents implications for improving employment outcomes, and explores future research.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Hammond ◽  
M. J. Shaw ◽  
J. Allan ◽  
T. S. Lodge

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