The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

Among numerous stories I’ve come across about people with criminal records turning their lives around, a recent story from the Quad-City Business Journal caught my attention. The story involves a trio who served time in federal prison for trafficking meth, the employer who hired them, and the federal prosecutor who described their employment relationship as “just terrific.”

Sally Hillman, Frannie Spickers, and Brian Nimrick were all convicted of trafficking methamphetamine. Upon completing their prison sentences, they searched for employment. Usually, a job search for people with past convictions can yield very few results, especially in the current job market. Even when employers are willing to take a chance on someone with a criminal record, those employers often do not expose themselves publicly out of fear of becoming stigmatized.

In this story, though, not only did Hillman, Spickers, and Nimrick find work with Greystone Logistics, but this Bettendorf, Iowa-based manufacturing company openly acknowledged its policy of giving second chances to people with criminal backgrounds. A plant manager explains:

It really comes from the heart. Sure we get great workers with good attendance and good attitudes. But when you hear their success stories — such as getting to see family they had not seen in years — and they are genuinely grateful to have a job and a place to plant their feet to start again, to get that second chance, you know you are doing the right thing.

It makes you want to go the extra mile when you are made aware of the discrimination they have to endure to get a job, to rent an apartment, etc. We truly do want to give these great people a re-chance to adapt and to become a productive member of society. Without employment it cannot be done. When you have that "Grampa" who gets to see his  9-year-old grandchild for the first time, and he is doing everything right so he can see his grandkids, how can you not do this for them?

This chance for Hillman, Spickers, and Nimrick was a chance not only to work, but also to succeed. The story notes, for instance, that Spickers has been working to move up the company ladder since joining Greystone Logistics as a janitor nearly two years ago.

Another other notable person pleased with the trio’s success is Jeffrey Lang, the federal prosecutor in the meth trafficking case that originally landed them behind bars. Now the acting United States Attorney of the Central District of Illinois, Lang praised their story as an example of how the criminal justice system is supposed to work:

The system protected the public back then. They are rehabilitated and now they are productive members of society.

Lang’s words echo a speech by Mr. Lang’s counterpart in the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, who reminded us that like law enforcement, businesses have an important role in ushering people from prison and jail back into society. Greystone Logistics has stepped up to that challenge quite well.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

The U.S. Census rejected 69-year-old Evelyn Hauser from a job because of her past arrest, even though she was never formally convicted and even though she hasn’t had any interactions with the criminal justice system in the nearly three decades since. The federal government didn’t have a problem with her criminal record when it hired her for the 1990 Census, so a class action lawsuit is asking: “What’s the problem now?”

Ms. Hauser is one of the named plaintiffs in Johnson v. Locke, a federal class action lawsuit challenging the Census’ screening practices for applicants with arrest records. The purpose of this lawsuit is to effect “simple changes to the Census’ hiring process that not only reduce its discriminatory effects, but will promote the public interest by expanding [its] hiring base in historically under-counted communities, thereby helping to achieve [the federal government’s] mandated goal of counting all who live in the United States.”  

The screening process goes like this: for every person who applies for one of these over one million temporary but well-paying positions, the Census runs an FBI criminal background check. If an arrest turns up, the applicant is ineligible for employment unless she can, within thirty days, produce a court document describing the disposition, i.e., outcome of the case.   

There are several problems with this screening system. First, the FBI database is notoriously incomplete. Half of all arrest records in the database are missing dispositions, which means that a significant number of applicants with arrests will have to track down these court documents. The 30-day requirement is especially burdensome for Ms. Hauser and other people whose cases predate the computerization of court files. 

Second, without having a complete picture of an applicant’s criminal history, the Census risks basing its hiring decisions on arrests and thus violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits employment policies that unjustifiably and disparately impact racial minorities. Indeed, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – the federal agency charged with enforcing Title VII – advises employers that bans on people with arrest records discriminate against racial minorities. Not only do racial minorities experience higher arrest rates, but arrests also have limited value in screening applicants since they are not reliable indicators of criminal activity.

As a result of this screening process, the complaint notes, “All applicants, whether or not they will work with the public, who have an arrest record at any point in their lives – no matter how trivial or disconnected from the requirements of the job – face an arbitrary barrier to employment.”  All Ms. Hauser wants, though, is to “continue contributing to her community.”

For more information on this case, visit the Census Worker Class Action Website.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A person who has done time in prison or jail often finds that he still owes a debt to society. Well known are the collateral consequences that abound in areas such as employment, housing, and voting rights. Debts for people with criminal records, however, are not only figurative. Literal debts can also come from the numerous financial obligations imposed within the criminal justice system and scattered through state statutes. These financial obligations can be difficult to identify, and yet, when a person exits the criminal justice system, they can often converge to create a significant barrier to successful reentry.

With generous support from the Public Welfare Foundation, the Shriver Center has begun to explore ways to reduce this type of debt and its negative impact on people who leave – and intend to stay out – of the criminal justice system. Last month, the Shriver Center released a report entitled “Debt Arising from Illinois’ Criminal Justice System: Making Sense of the Ad Hoc Accumulation of Financial Obligations.” The report is part one of a two-year study of how this system works as well as how it compares to systems in other states. The report focuses on identifying the different types of financial obligations that exist within the criminal justice system, any mechanisms that might relieve low-income defendants from debt that they cannot pay, and the devices that government agencies use to collect overdue debt in Illinois.

The numbers can be striking. For example, if a person is convicted for class four felony drug possession for the first time in Cook County, Illinois, he will incur a minimum of $1445 in financial obligations. Because this figure includes only financial obligations whose amounts are fixed by statute, it does not reflect those whose amounts are variable, such as the mandatory fine equal to the street value of the controlled substance or the additional $14 imposed for every $40 already assessed in fines. Nor does the $1445 figure include correctional fees, such as monthly probation fees and fees assessed by jails and prisons.

Compare the amount that a class four felony drug possession conviction triggers to the frequency with which it occurs in the Illinois criminal justice system. It may be the lowest level drug offense in Illinois, but class four felony drug possession also accounts for the highest percentage of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ incoming population. In 2004, for example, more people were sent to Illinois prison for possession of controlled substance than for any other single criminal offense. A high dollar amount assessed against a large number of people with convictions, however, does not necessarily mean increased revenue for the state, especially given that many of the people within the criminal justice system are poor.

The report also found that the numbers are not only high, but in some cases, they are also rapidly growing. Take the fees that people convicted of a criminal offense in Cook County must pay to the clerk of the circuit court. Today, a felony defendant owes over four times as much in these fees as he would have owed in 2004. Where he would have paid $35 in 2004, the amount due today would be $165. This growth is the result of a trend of imposing more fees on people with convictions. Out of the nine fees that Cook County imposes, four were created between 2005 and 2008, while a fifth was expanded to cover all criminal convictions, thus essentially acting as a new fee. During that same time period, the sixth and seventh fee tripled, while the eighth fee increased by 66 percent. Only the ninth fee remain constant. These increases, though, are not limited to Cook County. Rather, they reflect a trend in the state as a whole because Cook County cannot increase these fees without authority from the Illinois General Assembly to do so. Each of these increases, therefore, reflect a decision by the General Assembly to impose more fees on people in the criminal justice system.  Given that the trigger for these fees is a conviction for any offense, it is time for both legislative bodies to consider the cumulative impact of these fee increases.

To learn more about these and other findings from the Shriver Center regarding debt arising from the Illinois criminal justice system, see its report here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks