Asheville, North Carolina, is eliminating any question about criminal convictions from most job applications, a change planned for some time in January.When the change is made, applicants will still go through a criminal background check, just later in the hiring process. The change will help cut unemployment and recidivism among a growing population with criminal records, a number for which no local count exists but that totals 1.6 million in North Carolina. That is according to employment law experts and “ban the box” advocates, a slogan referring to the box job applicants are asked to check for criminal convictions.Nineteen states and 100 cities and counties across the country have adopted some kind of ban the box rule, often called “fair chance legislation.”North Carolina has no state legislation but several local governments do, such as Charlotte, Carrboro and Durham.

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