Pros And Cons Of Banning The Box Legislation

After watching the video, reading the article and conducting my own research, I discovered ban the box to have several pros and cons to its implementation. When completing an application for hire, many ex-offenders are concerned about whether they will get hired or not based on their criminal record (Hyde, 2015). Yet, I feel as though with this requirement removed from applications, it would help ex-offenders become more hopeful, confident, and joyful that they have a greater chance at obtaining a job. Nevertheless, banning the box from the application process is only the first step in businesses hiring an ex-offender (Hyde, 2015). No matter the criminal record the offender has obtained, the offender still has to take their own initiative to …show more content…
Its legislation is much more complicated than simply removing a checkbox from job applications (Trocko, 2014). Today, there are already several ban the box ordinances, and no two are the same. More specifically, the legislation varies between states, cities, and counties, which adds complexity to the already challenging hiring process. Another negative to implementing ban the box legislation is the amount of time added to the hiring process (Trocko, 2014). Once an employer invests time in screening numerous resumes for an open position, identifies a select few qualified candidates, then completes the initial interview phase, only then may they inquire about a candidate’s criminal history. If the candidate’s past takes him out of contention for the job, the employer must follow strict procedures for disqualifying the individual, and the recruitment process must start again from the beginning. Employers will inevitably feel frustrated at the amount of extra time and work that could have been avoided had they been given access to criminal information from the beginning that would ultimately disqualify candidates (Trocko,