Improving Chances for Successful Re-entry Through Jobs

WHEREAS, "Ban the Box" calls for the question about past convictions to be moved from the job application to the face to face interview phase of the hiring process; and

WHEREAS, often once incarcerated people return home, finding an employer willing to give them a chance to work and perform is difficult; and

WHEREAS, placing "the box" on job applications makes successful re-entry more difficult by both discouraging formerly incarcerated people from applying for jobs and increasing the likelihood their applications will not be considered; and

WHEREAS, when the interview phase is the moment when formerly incarcerated people are first asked about their conviction history, they are more likely to be hired; and

WHEREAS, the NAACP supports eliminating public and private employers from asking "whether someone has been convicted of a felony" from employment applications.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP encourages both public and private employers to "ban the box" by removing the question about whether someone has been incarcerated or convicted of a crime from the application to the interview phase of the hiring process; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP supports that National Standardization of Job Applications by "Banning the Box" be included in (s.714) of the National Criminal Commission Act of 2009-(Webb Commission Bill).