The Case for Reforming Criminal Background Checks for Employment

a reply to: liejunkie01

Nope, that's just the way life, or in this instance employment, goes.

Guess you as well as the OP are having a little trouble finding employment right?

The only bubble here is the one in your brain preventing you from understanding WHY those with criminal records find it hard to find work.

WHAT IDIOT WANTS TO HIRE A CRIMINAL?!?!

Hi everyone I've been reading this site for years and decided to join after reading this thread and a personal experience of my own. Long story short I was sitting in a parked car with a friend, and a public servant decided to pull up to us and start interrogating us. I wasn't letting him in my car, I was just having a conversation with the officer and he figured there had to be marijuana in the car. The two of us have not broke out any weed yet as we have been sitting there for maybe 2 minutes. The cop asks if I have anything on me and I put my hands in my pocket to empty them and to ask the officer if I'm free to go yet? In that instant I put my hands in my pockets he draws his gun and presses it to my head. I am then ripped out of the car and pepper sprayed. Tackled by three officers and cuffed. Written a ticket for the 2.5 grams in my console and charge with two misdemeanors, resisting arrest, and obstructing government authority. I wasn't even aware I was under arrest. Things happened so fast I felt violated and still need to get in touch with a lawyer and file suit. Anyways I'm posting this because I had no idea this pending case that the officers told me I wasn't being charged with anything yet, would show up on my background check. I was layed off from my job right after that and then applied for a Job at Solar City. I got the job there and worked there for a week. When I was pulled aside and told I would be placed on administrative leave till I can correct any errors in my background. Well I was let go again and now unemployed. The last court date for my case is in a couple weeks. Since I completed the tasks given to me by the court to clear my name. I am an only child and my father died when I was young. I am intelligent, but young and naive. I need help. What should I do? I want to go to law school. (I think) haha. This world is so messed up. Any advice would be appreciated. I am a good kid in a crappy environment and unfortunately Ive seen a lot of talent go to waste because of bad environments.

a reply to: Kingdumbcome

Well let me tell you about the court process.

Everything the public defender tells you will be them trying to get you to sign a plea bargain because your charges are minor and considered a slam dunk for the officer because they actually found what they were looking for.

they wont go through any of the documents or properly question the officer on the stand during pre trail.

The public defenders office works with the DA and gives the DA easy cases on yours. The PD will not do anything for you.

In court you need to ask the judge for clarification in order to understand whats happening and make sure you are totally aware of every choice you make.

Do research on your own and remember, you need to be mentally prepared for this situation as long as our government thinks they can tell us how to spend our free time and what we can and cant put into our bodies.

They own you.

a reply to: onequestion

Yea I figured that much. I haven't talked to an actual attorney in terms of coming after the office or the city. I have lost a lot from this stupid incident I am now broke and unemployed. So I talked to an attorneys assistant and they said I can't file suit against them until my case is closed, is that correct? I did took the plea bargain and did my 20 hours community service and wrote a paper as asked of me. Now I have my last court date coming up. I don't want to fumble this process before my last court date.

a reply to: Kingdumbcome

I can't help you with what is pending on your record other than
tp advise when you get your day in court make a heartfelt plea
for leniency to the judge. Dress respectfully, and conduct yourself
VERY respectfully before the judge. Prepare and practice. Your
plea to the judge should include the circumstances with losing your
job, how this was a ONE time mistake, and you're concerned for your
future with this one your record. Ask for deferred adjudication
....and pray you get a lenient judge.

As for the police encounter the "reaching into your pockets" part
should be a lesson learned. DONT. Always be civil, friendly, and
(this is the part I hate--defer to their authority--some of them have
a complex about that and will MAKE SURE you know who is boss
if they get even a hint of your disrespect)

You can never really WIN a police encounter. They have the authority
and means to do much harm, but you can lessen your chances of
trouble if you remain calm, say as little as you can get by with (don't
offer free information) AND if the situation starts to escalate SHUT UP.
If you feel the tension rising, shut your yap, except to say "officer, I am
going to respectfully exercise my right to remain silent".

You can't talk your way out of trouble...but you can talk yourself
into it.

I believe in Canada the way it works is if you're completely free and clear of any other criminal charges after 7 years, your criminal record gets deep-sixed into the anals of history.

Another words, at that point the only people who can pull up your criminal history would be law enforcement, the courts, etc. Whereas the average employer/citizen doing a standard public record check would no longer see it there (even though it still is on record, it's just no longer as easily accessible by anyone and everyone).

It may also depend on the type of crime and the seriousness of it.

This allows for anyone who has been charged with a crime to redeem themselves and not have to live with a lifelong discrimination problem because they made some stupid mistake 20 years ago (ie: charged with being in possession of a joint when they were 18 yrs old).

Maybe it's the same way in the US ?

a reply to: CranialSponge

Many states do allow you to seek an expungement or sealing of your records. The circumstances under which they can be granted vary widely from state to state though. Typically any kind of violent crime isn't going to be a candidate. Beyond that, some states are fairly lenient about it, others aren't. One would just need to research one's state.

a reply to: onequestion I was just denied a job because im a convicted felon until I'm done with probation and it gets expunged. The #ed up part is I worked for the company three months as a temp a friend of my dad got me the job I was doing real good but she couldn't do anything because my background from copurate came back not clear. She said she felt bad and come see her when it gets expunged. She gave me the heads up that they mite not hire me so I had a job lined up that hires felons thank gwad I'm alright. Yeah this country should make it illegal for a company not to wanna give people a second chance not all people with felons are criminals some of us just got caught up. It's like some people want you to be trapped in the system. Most companies go back seven years with the background check

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: jrod

Everybody makes bad choices. I don't fail to understand that at all.

Not everybody makes bad choices that carry legal consequences.

Everybody makes bad choices that have legal consequences on the books. Most of them simply do not suffer those consequences because they were discreet, or lucky. A study in the 1940s found that nearly 100% of survey respondents admitted committing at least one crime that would carry a sentence of imprisonment for one year. Since then, I imagine the number has grown to 100%.

My employer does criminal record checks on everybody. That's separate from the hiring process. HR would love to cut their workload by screening out everyone with a record, but they can't. They have to refer the applicant to the security office. They know security won't reflexively disqualify everyone with a record, so they don't bother unless it's serious. Everyone ends up going through security anyway.

a reply to: FurvusRexCaeli

Yea I'm aware. Admitting to speeding, which is against the law, or failing to completely stop at a stop sign, which is also against the law, are a tiny bit different than choosing to go out and get hammered and then get into a fight with somebody.

a reply to: onequestion

If you have made a mistake and then paid the penalty required under the law. Shouldn't that be an end to it? anything else could be perceived as permanent prosecution, and harassment. To the point of infringing your Civil rights, and your ability to survive. Then its no longer the fault of the miscreants past actions but the fault of, whoever is the persecutor.I wonder if this was tested in court what the outcome would be?

a reply to: Shamrock6
I don't think speeding or failing to stop are crimes for which one would serve a year in prison. I can't find the original Wallerstein & Wyle article, but if you want to read it, it was published in Probation in 1947. Everyone is one arrest and conviction away from being a felon. If you don't believe that, and you think the people you are hiring have never done anything worse (in the eyes of the law) than speeding or rolling through a stop sign, you are deceiving yourself.

What state do you live in? In New Orleans misdemeanors don't really effect you getting a job if you let them know what's up on your app. How old are you? U can get that weed charge cleared up and still be a lawyer it's just a minor weed charge. Lol I remember hearing about a lawyer in new Orleans he was in court and a weed joint fell out his pocket, I heard it on the news. I heard they changed the law about being a felon and having a gun you can have one long as u don't have a violent, distribution, or sex crime u can still get one I think that's how the new law is I have to research it.

a reply to: oldetimehockey4

Guess you as well as the OP are having a little trouble finding employment right?

I guess that you are having a little trouble reading, right.

Because if you don't then you must have "overlooked" my previous two post in this very thread.

And if you would have read those posts you would have seen that I have a quite of bit of collegiate experience.

I also have a pretty pretty good paying career.

But it is quite obvious that you are one of the many members of ATS that don't take the time to properly educate yourself on the topic at hand. Instead you would rather jump thread to thread and post nothing but ignorance that adds nothing to the topic.

So continue on making yourself look like an a$$.

It is quite entertaining.

a reply to: nullafides

Credit checks are performed because employers want to see how finacially responsible you are.

Also many feel that if you do have poor credit and/or carry high debt you may be more likely to steal from the company to pay off your debts.

Not saying I agree or disagree, but I believe that is why they are performed.

I never heard of bad credit stopping people from getting a job. Lol who in their right mind would steal to pay off Bill collector's maybe crazy white people than they would jump off a building after they are fired or go back to the.job wit a gun. " don't shoot me dick we was cool" lol

Let's throw illegal aliens into the mix. I highly doubt their backgrounds are checked. How accurate are the checks of those under the visa program? I guess Mexico keeps better records than the United states.

a reply to: truehumandna

I am a 21 year old in the wonderful Vampire State of Jew York. I'm really not old enough to complain about the state and taxes and stuff I just know this state sucks and I'm moving to one with a warmer climate for my skin condition ASAP.

On a side note is there a more useless department in a company than HR?

You from nyc? Never heard it called Jew york lol them Yiddish Jews a lot are vampires. Don't worry about them misdemeanor you have I got way worst charges on my jacket. My job field is usely in the construction industry looking to work offshore or on the river or shipyards almost everybody in them jobs are felons and the jobs pay good but by next year the felony will be off my jacket anyway. I was denied a job at a warehouse a major corporations that's why. We have Jews here but they don't run the city the Goodfellas of the Sicilian mafia runs new Orleans lol. Btw I'm not racist I'm just joking I judge people by their character not their skin or nationality.

a reply to: truehumandna

Upstate, smallbany, There was a joke on fb about people wanting to succeed from downstate and form a new state lol. I'm not racist either I just like to poke fun of things in life. I know a lot of people that claim to not be racist but for some reason they are afraid to go with me to the ghettos for pick up basketball. I practice what I preach. I worked for a solar installation company and they literally hired anyone off the street, haha couple guys out of jail convicted felons they were actually nice guys and I went over to ones house and smoked a blunt with him and spit some freestyles. Point of the story is that company was run by a fat Jewish bastard who hired a bunch of idiots so he could slide illegal wages under the table I'm in the midst of filing a claim with DOL over public works prevailing wages. Another moral of the story is don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and see every side to every story and really experience life. I like all of my black friends even though they're a little different then me hahahaha. You can still feel the racial barriers in 2014 which is shocking to me but I'm only 21 what do I know? I look at Asian, black, white, brown, Light skin, whatever as a human being and a product of their environment.