“Ban the Box” policies restrict employers from asking about applicants’ criminal histories on job applications and are often presented as a means of reducing unemployment among black men, who disproportionately have criminal records
2017
Scholarcy highlights
- “Ban the Box” policies restrict employers from asking about applicants’ criminal histories on job applications and are often presented as a means of reducing unemployment among black men, who disproportionately have criminal records
- Withholding information about criminal records could risk encouraging racial discrimination: employers may make assumptions about criminality based on the applicant's race
- We confirm that criminal records are a major barrier to employment: employers that asked about criminal records were 63% more likely to call applicants with no record
- Our results support the concern that BTB policies encourage racial discrimination: the black-white gap in callbacks grew dramatically at companies that removed the box after the policy went into effect
- Access to restricted content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases
- If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian
Need more features? Save interactive summary cards to your Scholarcy Library.