U.S. Attorney Asks Businesses to Hire Ex-Offenders to Increase Public Safety
Recently, business leaders were warned that Chicago could not simply incarcerate its way out of its current violence epidemic. That warning came from an unlikely source – United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
Better known for putting felons behind bars than putting them into jobs, the prominent federal prosecutor emphasized that law enforcement is only part of the solution of the crime problem, not the entire solution. Indeed, he said that businesses must do their part to usher people with criminal records back to being productive members of society. If they did, police and prosecutors would be better able to focus their resources and efforts on the worst of the worst, and not on the people struggling to better their lives.
For law enforcement officials like Mr. Fitzgerald to do their jobs better, therefore, businesses must seriously reconsider their policies against hiring people with criminal records.
The current state of the economy might cause employers to balk at these suggestions, Mr. Fitzgerald acknowledged, but that reaction only ignores the bigger picture. The business community has an opportunity to help prevent crime and violence by giving people who want to work a chance to do so. We as a community are negligent, he explained, if we don’t give them that chance.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s words should be taken not only as an appeal to business leaders, but also a reminder to advocates to engage businesses in practical discussions on reentry. The reasons for this absence vary. Sometimes, businesses don’t understand the long-terms effects of their decisions not to hire based on a criminal records. Other times, employers are already hiring, but they fear negative reactions from their consumers and their competitors. Hopefully, Mr. Fitzgerald will inspire other law enforcement officials to see the connections between their work and reentry as well as convince businesses to re-assess their role in promoting public safety.
*To view Mr. Fitzgerald’s speech that prompted this blog post please click here.
But for this to work, a business wants two things: (1) a tax credit, and (2) an immunity from any negligent-hiring claim.