Biden Administration Wants to Remove Criminal Background Question from College Applications
“The criminal justice system has a disproportionate impact on people of color and people living in poverty”
This is the administration’s latest foray into social justice in education.
Campus Reform reports:
Biden admin calls for removal of criminal background question on college applications
In an April 28 post on “Homeroom,” the official blog of the Department of Education (ED), ED called on schools to remove the criminal background question from admissions.
“This Second Chance Month … ED calls upon institutions across the country to re-examine their admissions and student service policies and holistically determine how they can better serve and support current and formerly incarcerated students. We call on you to ban the box,” ED urged.
The “ban the box” slogan alluded to a campaign started by the civil rights group All of Us or None in 2004 which aims to remove questions asking about prior criminal convictions from employment application materials.
“The campaign challenges the stereotypes of people with conviction histories by asking employers to choose their best candidates based on job skills and qualifications, not past convictions,” the campaign’s website explains.
ED’s blog post also discussed its recently announced Second Chance Fellow program, which will “leverage lived experience and subject matter expertise to improve [the Department’s] policies and programs, enhancing [the Department’s] ability to implement and increase the impact of Pell reinstatement as well as other cross-cutting issues that impact students who are incarcerated and formerly incarcerated.”
The post also mentioned ED’s updated version of its Beyond the Box guide, which provides “a focus on the importance of increasing access to higher education for system-involved individuals” and “recommendations to mitigate barriers to enrollment and ensure persistence and completion.”
The guide supported its position on banning the box, saying, “The criminal justice system has a disproportionate impact on people of color and people living in poverty,” noting that although White Americans make up 60 percent of the American population, they constitute only 38 percent of the incarcerated population.
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Comments
I may be guilty of old fashioned thinking but, I suspect any POCs truly qualified for college, and taking real majors, don’t have a criminal record in the first place.
The criminal justice system has a disproportionate impact on criminals.
When criminals are enrolled in colleges, and on-campus crime rates start to rise and is attributed to these criminals, the Left will start crying and asking how they were admitted in the first place and blaming the schools for not protecting the students and the community.
The criminal justice system also has a disproportionate impact on men. Arrest more women?!
A “checked box” does not exclude a former criminal from employment or education; it lets the employer know that perhaps that employee should not be handling money or watching children. It lets the employer know that maybe some conversations need to be had. But a good employer is not going to blanket “no” an otherwise qualified employee if there is a chance that person has changed.
Yes, they will. A criminal record is an absolute bar to employment. Until unemployment stays at zero for years, there will always be an equally qualified person out there who doesn’t have a record. It’s just not worth the risk for any employer.
I would like to see a poll of ex-cons asking what party for which they vote and see if they can find one voting Republican.
Trick question, as most ex-cons can’t vote.
That box will not go away until the law says it has to. The first time someone gets raped by someone who was convicted of rape in the past the school would get its ass sued off unless it could say the law would not let us ask.
“asking employers to choose their best candidates based on job skills and qualifications, not past convictions”
“You certainly seem to have all the qualifications Backus & Schafer needs in our investment bankers. Welcome to the firm, Mr. Madoff!”
Why is this a problem? It’s exactly what you’d expect based on crime statistics.
Today, POC are UNDER-affected by the criminal justice system, relative to crimes committed by such people. Think shoplifters and killers in Chicago.
No surprise here. The criminal element is a key cog in the D’rat machine. Why do you think they fight so hard for the felon vote?