Help Wanted: A Survey of Employer Concerns About Hiring Ex-Convicts

Abstract

The majority (53%) of 62 Baltimore area employers surveyed were willing to hire an ex-offender described in a hypothetical scenario. Employers’greatest apprehensions concerned ex-offenders’ people skills and their customers’ discomfort if customers knew that an ex-convict worked for them. Also, the data show that employers’willingness to take advantage of a program with subsidized wages and their fear of being victimized were related to their degree of social contact with ex-convicts. These findings suggest that ex-offenders would benefit from programs enhancing people skills and that employerswith greater familiarity with ex-convicts can more easily dismiss negative stereotypes about this population.

Breaking Down Barriers: Experiments into Policies That Might Incentivize Employers to Hire Ex-Offenders

“…We began by developing an initial list of policy features based on existing policies as already described, and previous survey literature focusing on employers' preferences (Albright and Denq, 1996;Giguere and Dundes, 2002;Holzer, Raphael, and Stoll, 2004;Graffam, Shinkfield, and Hardcastle, 2008;Lukies, Graffam, and Shinkfield, 2011;Lageson, Vuolo, and Uggen, 2015). Then, as suggested by Coast et al (2012), we revised the list through prestudies and pretests.…”

“…We developed it by drawing from prior surveys or interviews of employers (Albright and Denq, 1996;Giguere and Dundes, 2002;Holzer, Raphael, and Stoll, 2004;Graffam, Shinkfield, and Hardcastle, 2008;Lukies, Graffam, and Shinkfield, 2011;Lageson, Vuolo, and Uggen, 2015) and the pretest interviews with human resources professionals and construction supervisors and executives overseeing large public and private construction projects.…”

The employability of ex-offenders: a field experiment in the Swedish labor market

“…Survey-based studies have shown that people who have had contact with exoffenders hold less negative attitudes towards ex-offenders than those who have had no past interaction with ex-offenders (Hirschfield and Piquero 2010). Other survey-based studies on employers' willingness to hire former criminals have shown that employers' fear of ex-offenders committing new crimes depends on whether employers have had any previous contact with ex-offenders: employers who had experienced previous contact with ex-offenders, frequently or occasionally, had little concern about whether ex-offenders would commit any new crimes (Giguere and Dundes 2002). Hence, if exposure to ex-offenders varies across different types of occupations, the acceptability of ex-offenders may very well vary across occupations as well.…”

An exception to the rule: Belief in redeemability, desistance signals, and the employer’s decision to hire a job applicant with a criminal record

“…Employers consider whether the type of crime committed may relate to the type of position being applied for (Albright & Denq, 1996;Graffam et al, 2004), and whether the safety of themselves, their staff or customers is perceived to be at risk (Giguere & Dundes, 2002;Pager & Quillian, 2005).…”