There are 7 billion people currently living on this planet and of those 7 billion, 1 in 9 men and 1 in 56 women will end up, at some point in their lives, imprisoned. In the scope of 7 billion, that is a lot of people who end up with a criminal record. Furthermore, about 40 percent …show more content…
This suggests that the majority of convicted people need to find a job after being released from jail, however, that already difficult process is made far worse by their criminal record. That is where “ban the box” comes in. Ban the box proposes that the question on the initial job application about criminal history is removed and only after initial screening can the employer see criminal records. This has already been instituted in certain states, but a nationwide debate about its morality has arisen. It has become quite clear that employers are much less willing to hire people with criminal records than without them, suggesting employers use criminal records against a candidate. I am not condoning the wrong actions of people who were imprisoned, yet, I think that there needs to be a …show more content…
Deontology, a duty-based theory, is applied in the sense that both the convicts and the employers have duties to each other. The convicts have a duty to honesty and acknowledgement of their past, however, they also have the duty to themselves and possible families to obtain a job and make a living; try to turn over a new leaf in their lives. The employers have the duty to consider all applicants equally and reserve judgment solely in terms of qualities and personality required for the position they are hiring for but also a duty to ensure their company is well kept and safe for other employees. Immanuel Kant, a famous deontological thinker posed the categorical imperative which states that our maxims are only acceptable if the can be applied universally. In this case, this can be applied to the employer who refuses to hire people with criminal records. If every employer were to reject people with those records, no ex-offenders would be employed and the relapse rate would likely be much higher, making the world even less safe than it already is. The idea of duty relates to ethical pluralism and Ross’s idea of the prima facie duties. These are a series of seven duties that one has a moral obligation to follow, which consist of fidelity, reparations, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, and