My first thought was, would you do this? Well, employers that have done so have reaped considerable benefit from the practice. Employees with criminal records are less likely to quit, reducing turnover costs. They have fewer disciplinary problems, reducing disciplinary costs. They are less likely to cheat their employers. They can be more reliable than employees who do not have records. Employing ex-offenders also saves society vast sums of money in the form of reduced correctional costs [although some might argue that this is a zero-sum game since private prisons may lose out]. There are very strong reasons for developing ways to re-integrate ex-offenders into employment, despite this person’s objection:
So, the question is, why don’t we do it? I know I myself would hesitate, if I’m being honest. How can we overcome the poorly informed stereotypes of ex-offenders that leave them unemployed in the cycle of recidivism?
Instead of answering this question, I just want to posit that it requires us to construct an infrastructure of love that would help ex-offenders make the transition. It is an infrastructure because it would involve the construction or reconfiguration of several institutions and non-governmental organizations to help these men and women make the transition. And it requires love because it requires all of us to set aside stereotypes and other heuristics that convince us of acting in our [mis-informed] self interest in order to put the interests of these men and women ahead of our own.
If you know of good examples of folks, institutions, or groups that do this work, would you please share about them?