Recently, many cities and stateshave passed “Ban-the-Box” (BTB) policies, which restrict employers from askingabout applicants’ criminal histories on job application forms. BTB is meant toopen doors to employment for people with criminal records and is oftenpresented as a means of reducing unemployment among black men, who have recordsat disproportionate rates. One concern is that depriving employers ofindividual criminal record information before the interview stage could leadthem to statistically discriminate on the basis of race or othercharacteristics like education or employment history. We investigate BTB’seffects on discrimination in initial employment decisions as well as theeffects of race and criminal records on employer callback rates.
Source:University of Chicago