Reducing the Stigma of Criminal Records for Employment Opportunities

1. Criminal Stigma, Race, Gender and Employment: An Expanded Assessment of the Consequences of Imprisonment for Employment National institute of Justice February 26, 2014 Scott H. Decker, PI scott.decker@asu.edu Cassia Spohn, Co-PI cassia.spohn@asu.edu Natalie Ortiz, Ph.D. Student natalie.ortiz@asu.edu

2. This research was supported by funding from the National Institute of Justice (2010-MU-MU-0004). Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. We thank Marilyn Moses for her support and guidance. She is one in a million.

3. I was done so the young lady sat down with me and right away pointed out that there was a problem. She pointed out my criminal record and right away told me that they could not go any further with the interview. I asked why and she just said that they couldn’t hire me because of the criminal record. Male. Ex Prisoner. After that he flipped over the resume and read the work experience and then said I see you have been incarcerated let's first talk about that. I told him it was a drug conviction and I'm ready to move forward with my life. After that he said tell me more what type class 2? I said yes. He said how long ago? I said I've been out since February on parole which ends in August. He said unfortunately we are not looking to hire any parolees. Then said thank you and good luck. The whole experience was less than 3 minutes. Unfortunately this interview only lasted around 5 minutes, and I was only asked two questions "when did this happen?" and "what was the charge?". Male. Ex Prisoner. He reviewed the application and seemed interested. But it seemed like that changed after he looked at the criminal background section. He did not mention it but I felt like his demeanor did change a bit. He went on to tell me that he had so many applicants that he was going to take a while to review all of them. He also said that he would be calling me if they didn’t work out. Male. Ex Prisoner.

4. Re-Entry: The Crisis that has Arrived • Most prisoners come back • 1.1 million offenders moved on or off parole in 2010 (Glaze & Bonczar, 2011) • Fewer exits and more entries • Most don’t do well • Corrections costs are skyrocketing • Prison population as a function of parole violators (Blumstein & Beck, 2005) • There are ways to reduce recidivism and save money

5. What Matters for Reentry:Employment • Correlate of lower recidivism rates and desistance (Sampson & Laub, 1993; Uggen, 2000) • Acts as a fulcrum for housing and interpersonal relationships during reentry and reintegration • Most states require employment as a condition of parole (Travis & Stacey, 2010)

6. Barriers to Employment • Employers are hesitant to hire someone with a criminal record (Albright & Denq, 1996; Giguere & Dundes, 2002; Holzer et al., 2004; Pager, 2007) • Violence in the workplace • Insurance liability/won’t bond • Soft skills, “codes of the street,” and slang • Access to criminal records

7. Incarceration and Reentry in Arizona • 60% of Arizona’s prison population is from the Phoenix/Mesa metropolitan area • 13% of state’s prison population is from central and south Phoenix • Most parolees are drug or property offenders • 44% White, 37% Hispanic, 13% Black

9. Employer Audits and Correspondence Tests • Uses an experimental design • Bendick et al. (1991; 1994) • African American testers were less likely to advance through the job application process than white testers • See also Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004) • Evidence that white testers were favored over Hispanic testers • Hispanics’ résumés designed to make them better qualified than whites • When applications were mailed to employers, 22 percent of Hispanics’ applications received positive response from employers compared to 19 percent of whites’ (n.s.) • Pager (2003) and Pager et al. (2009) • White males with a criminal record were more likely to get a callback (17%) than Latino or Black males without a criminal record (~14%)

10. ASU Employment Audit Project • Goals: • Assess the impact of a prison record on employment chances • Black, white, and Hispanic • Male and Female • Educational attainment • Community college degree • Online job application method • Southwest region of the U.S. • Challenging economic times

11. Study Components • Employment Audits • Correspondence Tests • Employer Interviews

12. Methodology • Correspondence method • Applied for jobs online • Most frequently used resource by offenders looking for a job in Arizona (NIC Offender Employment Specialist Training, Jan. 2011) • Craigslist and Careerbuilder • Applied for jobs over same 16 week period in 2011 and 2012 • All applicants for the same job • Job openings in Maricopa County • Entry-level jobs in general/manual labor, customer service, and food service • Educational requirement not more than high school degree

13. Basic Research Design

14. Applicants’ Résumés • 12 fictitious applicants (race*prison[yes/no]) • 6 pairs • Within each pair of applicants, 1 with a prison record and 1 without • “Cue” race/ethnicity through first and last name • Empirical support for our sampling frame of first and last names (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004; Lavender, 1988; Word, Coleman, Nunziata, & Kominski, 2010) • Criminal record • Signaled by work in prison • Randomly assigned to a résumé within each pair the first week of applications and then switches each week thereafter • Job skills/qualifications, length of time previously employed matched across all résumés used to apply for jobs • High school matched within pair • Education (Associate’s degree) • Randomly assigned to each applicant’s résumé for each job applying for • Where applicable, completed before incarceration

15. Results • Over 6,100 applications to 518 different employers • 199 of employers were in customer service • 143 in general labor • 176 in food service • Evenly distributed across race/ethnicity, gender and prison test condition • About evenly distributed across college test condition • 68% of applications were submitted in 2012 • 73% of jobs were found on craigslist • Out of the jobs found using Careerbuilder, more than half were in customer service and 11 percent in food service. • 42% of jobs found on craigslist were in food service

16. Dependent Variable • Includes callbacks and emails • Interviews and inquiries • 7.43% of applications resulted in a favorable response, lower than previous work, reflecting the difficult economic times.

17. Correspondence Test: Male Results

18. Correspondence Test: Female Results

19. Audit Study: Male Results

20. Audit Study: Female Results

21. After several minutes the manager came out and shook my hand. The first thing he said was "So you're looking for a back of house, based on your experience?" I replied "I am available for any type of position." He said "we will be looking for back of house later in the month, I will hold this until then." He thanked me for my time and I left. I am unsure if I was steered to a different position due to the prison record or simply a lack of experience in serving. We did not sit down and have a formal interview, Mike simply asked THE QUESTION while we were standing at the bar. Male. Ex Prisoner. The manager finally came out and talked to me. He asked me what I did in prison and told him that I worked in the kitchen. He didn’t seem to change his demeanor when he found out about my prison record. He did however try to lure me to a different job. He advised me that he was going to forward my application to the kitchen hiring manager. He told me that he had a lot of host applications but that I would have a better chance applying for kitchen help .Male. Ex Prisoner.After reading the prison condition…. She told me to hold on that she was going to see if she could find someone to talk to me. She returned a short time later and told me that they were just taking applications at that time. I thanked her and I left at 2:20 pm. Male. Ex Prisoner.

22. Analysis • Cross-classified random effects model • MLM framework • Parallel level-2 groups • Do not cluster hierarchically • Three sources of random variation • Individual characteristics (race/ethnicity, prison record, education) • Résumé (analogous to “tester effects”) • Job type • Office/admin; Food service/restaurant; General/manual labor; Sales; Customer service

23. Findings p<.000

24. Power is still an issue

25. We sat down in a corner booth and he looked over my resume. He asked what I did at [a previous job].… He then began to ask me about my schedule: did I have another job? No. Did I have kids? No. Was I in school? He then [asks if] I have reliable transportation? He began to tell me about the area and how the customers are from the neighborhood and they are all educated so the tips "will be good." He asked if I was familiar with the area. I nodded and said I found it just fine. He then led into, “Well, you’re "clean cut," you have a nice personality, so I will be making decisions soon and making calls. Hispanic female ex-prisonerI went in today for my follow- up interview. When I went into the establishment there was a guy working behind the bar, I couldn't tell if it was a manager or just an employee but he greeted me. I told him I was there for an interview. He told me that he was glad I was applying for the hostess position because it would be good to get some diversity in the Front of House, "If you know what I mean" (at this point he winked). In one point of our "conversation", he mentioned something about having big hands and then said "You know what that means". Female ex prisoner.

26. I entered the bar area as three male servers/bartenders were talking at the bar. As one approached me, I introduced myself and told him I was interested in applying. He asked me to fill out an application and said that no hiring manager was available at that time. The other two employees approached us. I asked where I should sit (the bar area only contained couches) and the three of them told me to sit up at the bar. The entire time I was filling out the application, they stood nearby and joked that I should get "tanked" [i.e., drunk] and fill out the application because I was "sure to get hired." White female ex-prisoner

27. Interpretation of Findings • Survey of hiring managers and HR professionals indicated that 51% of employers have hired someone with a criminal record (Careerbuilder.com, 2012) • Online applications are increasingly more common, especially among younger job seekers and may minimize bias at the early stages of employment* • In 2003, 77% of online job searchers are currently employed (Stevenson, 2008) • Impact of recession on the applicant pool • As more people are online searching for jobs, less successful in finding employment (Fountain, 2005)

28. Employer Survey • 48 of 60 employers from audit • 15 minute survey • Asked about ideal job applicants for job they had advertised • Asked to evaluate employability of hypothetical applicant

29. Résumé of a hypothetical applicant given to employer Example corresponds toWhite male ex-prisoner

30. How likely would you accept a person [ with this particular background] for the position you advertised?”

31. Survey question: “How long after release from prison would have to pass before you would hire someone who had been in prison?” (for a violent crime, a drug crime, a property crime) See Blumstein and Nakamura, NIJ, 2012

32. Survey question: Respondents were asked to indicate whether they anticipated problems from hypothetical job applicant in the following areas.

33. Implications for Policy and Practice • Training in using the internet to search and apply for jobs before release • Training in how to “live” in an online world (WTX is FB?) • The Digitial Divide is larger for offenders • Email, Attachments, Downloads/uploads • Setting up web-based accounts • Not keeping up with changes

34. Implications for Policy and Practice • Word processing skills • Learned before release • Formatting résumés • Preparing cover letters • How to customize to each employer • Proof-reading • High-lighting relevant job skills and experiecne

35. Implications for Policy and Practice • Interviewing • Mock interviews • Answers to questions about time in prison and employment gaps proactively • Develop “Reentry scripts” • Acknowledging their past and what led to their criminal activities (taking responsibility) • Commitment to moving forward and doing better • Dress, tone, demeanor, and body language

36. Implications for Policy and Practice • Preparing for rejection (“Don’t give up”) • Increased competition for jobs because of number of applicants against • Very few online applications result in callbacks • Expect change in employer willingness to review in-person application after they learn about record • Disappointment will prevail • Takes time

37. Implications for Policy and Practice • Evidence of ability to do job • Prior experience in similar positions • Certificates, diplomas, etc. from prison programs • Cover letters and résumés need to draw parallel between job history and any training and the position being applied for

38. Implications for Policy and Practice • Preparing to work • Begins before release • Driver’s license/government-issued id card • Proof of valid SSN (card) • Bank account • Job history information for résumé/applications

39. Implications for Policy and Practice • Preparing for what is expected at work • Showing up on time; staying until end of shift • Staying late to finish task • Taking direction from management and co-workers

40. Implications for Policy and Practice • “Who you know” • References and employment opportunities • Former employers • Parole officers and social service providers • Reconnecting virtually • E.g., LinkedIn; Facebook • Testing grounds for reestablishing non-criminal interpersonal relationships

41. Implications for Policy and Practice • Ban the Box • Tone down the anxiety surrounding application process • Increases number of opportunities ex-prisoners pursue • Safer Foundation “Job Ready” • Meet with Chamber of Commerce Groups • Limit Employer liability for hiring ex’s

42. Implications for Policy and Practice • Be realistic • The process of getting a job is a full-time job with no paycheck • Ex-offenders are not qualified for every job • Competing against applicants without a criminal record • Employers set a “higher bar” for ex-prisoners • Difficult to rise to • Emphasize past employment

43. Survey question: Respondents were asked to indicate how likely it was that they would contact hypothetical applicant for an interview, with responses of definitely would, probably would, probably would not, and definitely would not.