Ban the Box Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Ban the Box - Essay Example Ban the Box Although there are still many arguments regarding the ban the box movement, the major concept is to provide flexibility to the criminals who have been convicted but want to reenter the society and get employed to live a better life. Once they have served their sentence, they have the rights just as the other people of the society. An inclusion in the employment application that a person has convicted a crime in his past is a lifelong restriction which would paralyze the person from starting a new life and living equally in the society. This is also a form of discrimination on the grounds of previous records. One of the major social concerns in the modern world has been employment. People look for new ways to employ themselves and earn for their living. However, one of the many requirements of employment is the past criminal records of the person seeking the job. Many businesses in America have a section in their employment applications which asks whether the person has been trialed i n court ever. This creates a social barrier between those people who have had a criminal record and those who haven’t. Even though this concept sounds justifiable, it is not. Ban the box movement carried out a campaign giving a second chance to those people who were convicted but wanted to be reemployed and stat their lives all over again, which is nothing wrong. Thus, the name of the movement refers to banning the box, which indicates criminal convictions on employment applications.... The number of people with a criminal record is increasing day by day in America. The prison population has also increased out of which a majority is released every day and others are sent back due to new crimes. Most of the population of prison consists of African Americans which is a challenging aspect for their communities especially regarding the restrictions of reemployment. The more people in prison demonstrate the difficulties in reemployment that a number of people face due to having a criminal record. Even if they tend to seek legal and honest employment, they suffer several barriers; discrimination and inequality being the major (Loeb, 2010). As more and more people are facing this problem, it is affecting the community negatively. The people who have been convicted in the past have families and close relatives who are free to access to their rights and enjoy equality in the society, then why not they themselves. If their families have the rights to prosper and contribute in the society, then everyone has the equal right and opportunity for employment. Employment is one of the basic attributes to live and, thus, it creates a safe community. Having an exception for those people who have had past criminal records seems unfair to many. Incarceration of an individual has led to many benefits and costs to the society such as decrease in crime rates and increase in operating costs of prisons. However, there may be a huge impact of incarceration on employment and earning of the offender after his release. One group of thinkers suggests that the employment of an ex-offender is a high risk as it gives them the tendency to recidivate and repeats their offence. However, the other group of thinkers suggests that