22nd October 2013
The Guardian reports that UK Business-lead charity ‘Business in the Community’ has begun a campaign to get employers to remove the box on job applications that requires disclosure of an applicant’s prior convictions.
Business in the Community have produced a film that copies the “skip ad” box on YouTube videos. This has the powerful effect of demonstrating how easily ex-offenders are dismissed and the damaging effect this has on their confidence.
The campaign highlights the benefits of banning 'the box', which all parties involved would enjoy: the community, people with prior convictions and employers.
Specifically, the community benefit from a much reduced rate of recidivism within one year of release where ex-offenders join the workforce within that period. The applicant with prior convictions enjoys a much greater chance of becoming employed where disclosure is not required. And, given the large section of society with prior convictions (9.2M people in the UK alone), employers benefit from a much wider choice of suitable applicants when they ‘ban-the-box’.
Read
The Guardian, 17 October 2013, 'Ban the Box' campaign asks employers to give ex-offenders a second chance
Business in the Community, Ban the Box
Watch
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.