DOCSLIB.ORG

Discrimination in a Low-Wage Labor Market: a Field Experiment

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Discrimination in a Low-Wage Labor Market: a Field Experiment Discrimination in a Low-Wage Labor Market: A Field Experiment Devah Pager Bruce Western Princeton University Harvard University Bart Bonikowski Princeton University Decades of racial progress have led some researchers and policymakers to doubt that discrimination remains an important cause of economic inequality. To study contemporary discrimination, we conducted a field experiment in the low-wage labor market of New York City, recruiting white, black, and Latino job applicants who were matched on demographic characteristics and interpersonal skills. These applicants were given equivalent résumés and sent to apply in tandem for hundreds of entry-level jobs. Our results show that black applicants were half as likely as equally qualified whites to receive a callback or job offer. In fact, black and Latino applicants with clean backgrounds fared no better than white applicants just released from prison. Additional qualitative evidence from our applicants’ experiences further illustrates the multiple points at which employment trajectories can be deflected by various forms of racial bias. These results point to the subtle yet systematic forms of discrimination that continue to shape employment opportunities for low-wage workers. espite legal bans on discrimination and the ity in total joblessness—including those who Dliberalization of racial attitudes since the exited the labor market—increased among 1960s, racial differences in employment remain young men during this period (Holzer and among the most enduring forms of economic Offner 2001). Against this backdrop of persist- inequality. Even in the tight labor market of the ent racial inequality, the question of employment late 1990s, unemployment rates for black men discrimination has generated renewed interest. remained twice that for whites. Racial inequal- Although there is much research on racial dis- parities in employment, the contemporary rel- evance of discrimination remains widely contested. Direct all correspondence to Devah Pager, One line of research points to the persist- Department of Sociology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 ([email protected]). This ence of prejudice and discrimination as a criti- research has been supported by grants from the cal factor shaping contemporary racial National Science Foundation, the National Institute disparities (Darity and Mason 1998; Roscigno of Justice, the JEHT Foundation, the Princeton et al. 2007). A series of studies relying on sur- Research Institute on the Region, and the Industrial veys and in-depth interviews finds that firms are Relations Section of Princeton University. The first reluctant to hire young minority men—espe- author acknowledges generous support from NSF cially blacks—because they are seen as unreli- CAREER, NIH K01, and a W.T. Grant Scholars able, dishonest, or lacking in social or cognitive Award. We also gratefully acknowledge the support skills (Holzer 1996; Kirschenman and of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and Commissioner Patricia Gatling. Thanks to Glenn Neckerman 1991; Moss and Tilly 2001; Martin, Don Green, and the many workshop partic- Waldinger and Lichter 2003; Wilson 1996: chap. ipants who provided generous feedback on earlier 5). The strong negative attitudes expressed by drafts of this article. employers suggest that race remains highly AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 2009, VOL. 74 (October:777–799) 778—–AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW salient in employers’ evaluations of workers. to assess exactly how and under what conditions At the same time, research relying on inter- race shapes employer behavior. We address this views with employers leaves uncertain the issue with a field experiment that allows direct degree to which self-reported attitudes are influ- observation of employer decision making. By ential in actual hiring decisions (Pager and presenting equally qualified applicants who dif- Quillian 2005). Indeed, Moss and Tilly fer only by race or ethnicity, we can observe the (2001:151) report the puzzling finding that degree to which racial considerations affect real “businesses where a plurality of managers com- hiring decisions. Furthermore, we move beyond plained about black motivation are more likely experimental estimates of discrimination to to hire black men.” In fact, across a series of explore the processes by which discrimination analyses controlling for firm size, starting wage, occurs. Examining the interactions between job the percent black in the relevant portion of the seekers and employers, we gain new insights metropolitan area, and a business’s average dis- into how race influences employers’ percep- tance from black residents in the area, Moss and tions of job candidate quality and desirability. Tilly find that employers who overtly criticize Studying the multifaceted character of dis- the hard skills or interaction skills of black crimination highlights the range of decisions that workers are between two and four times more collectively reduce opportunities for minority likely to hire a black worker (pp.151–52). Hiring candidates. decisions, of course, are influenced by a com- plex range of factors, racial attitudes being only CONCEPTUALIZING one. Employers’ stated preferences do not pro- DISCRIMINATION vide a clear picture of the degree to which neg- ative attitudes about blacks translate into active Empirical studies often portray discrimination forms of discrimination. as a single decision. Research on employment Research focusing on wages rather than disparities, for example, considers the role of employment offers even less evidence of con- discrimination at the point of initial hire; temporary discrimination. Neal and Johnson research on pay disparities considers discrimi- (1996), for example, estimate wage differences nation at the point of wage-setting decisions. In between white, black, and Latino young men. reality, discrimination may occur at multiple They find that two thirds of the black-white decision points across the employment rela- gap in wages in 1990 to 1991 can be explained tionship. In this way, even relatively small by race differences in cognitive test scores meas- episodes of discrimination—when experienced ured 11 years earlier, and test scores fully at multiple intervals or across multiple con- explain wage differences between whites and texts—can have substantial effects on aggregate Latinos. This and similar studies trace the outcomes. employment problems of young minority men Depictions of discriminators also often por- primarily to skill or other individual deficien- tray the labor market as divided neatly between cies, rather than any direct effect of discrimi- employers with a “taste for discrimination” and nation (Farkas and Vicknair 1996; Neal and those who are indifferent to race (Becker 1957). Johnson 1996; O’Neill 1990). Heckman Consequently, it is suggested, job seekers can (1998:101–102) puts the point most clearly, avoid discrimination by sorting themselves into writing that “most of the disparity in earnings sectors of the labor market where discrimination between blacks and whites in the labor market is less likely to occur (Heckman 1998:103). of the 1990s is due to differences in skills they Fryer and Levitt (2003:5) characterize employ- bring to the market, and not to discrimination ers according to a similar dichotomy, with appli- within the labor market.” He goes on to describe cants best advised to identify and avoid labor market discrimination as “the problem of employers prone to discrimination, rather than an earlier era.” wasting time pursuing job opportunities among Does employer discrimination continue to firms unwilling to hire them: “In the face of dis- affect labor market outcomes for minority work- criminatory employers, it is actually in the inter- ers? Clear answers are elusive because dis- est of both employee and employers for Blacks crimination is hard to measure. Without to signal race, either via a name or other résumé observing actual hiring decisions, it is difficult information, rather than undertaking a costly DISCRIMINATION IN A LOW-WAGE LABOR MARKET—–779 interview with little hope of receiving a job In addition to noting the varying role of race offer.” According to this conceptualization of across employment interactions, some research labor market discrimination, racial preferences shifts the focus from employer characteristics to or biases are fixed and concentrated among a the characteristics of the job for which a given specific subset of employers. worker is being considered. Previous research Other evidence challenges this tidy distinc- points to the negative consequences of the tion between employers who do and do not dis- changing composition of low-wage jobs for criminate. Alternative formulations of labor black men, with the shift from manufacturing market discrimination encourage us to view the to services skewing the distribution of skill process as more interactive, contextual, and demands toward “soft skills,” for which black widespread. Theories of both statistical dis- men are considered lacking (Moss and Tilly crimination and stereotypes view race as a 2001). Jobs involving customer service or con- heuristic employers use to evaluate job appli- tact with clients heighten the salience of race cants about whom little is known. Here, group- because of employers’concerns about the dress based generalizations provide guidance about and demeanor of young black men (Moss and the expected profile of individuals from a given Tilly 2001). Jobs at the “back of
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Mark of a Criminal Record1
    The Mark of a Criminal Record1 Devah Pager Northwestern University With over 2 million individuals currently incarcerated, and over half a million prisoners released each year, the large and growing number of men being processed through the criminal justice system raises important questions about the consequences of this massive institutional intervention. This article focuses on the consequences of incarceration for the employment outcomes of black and white job seekers. The present study adopts an experimental audit approach—in which matched pairs of individuals applied for real entry-level jobs—to formally test the degree to which a criminal re- cord affects subsequent employment opportunities. The findings of this study reveal an important, and much underrecognized, mech- anism of stratification. A criminal record presents a major barrier to employment, with important implications for racial disparities. While stratification researchers typically focus on schools, labor markets, and the family as primary institutions affecting inequality, a new insti- tution has emerged as central to the sorting and stratifying of young and disadvantaged men: the criminal justice system. With over 2 million in- dividuals currently incarcerated, and over half a million prisoners released each year, the large and growing numbers of men being processed through the criminal justice system raises important questions about the conse- quences of this massive institutional intervention. This article focuses on the consequences of incarceration for the em- 1 Support for this research includes grants from the National Science Foundation (SES- 0101236), the National Institute of Justice (2002-IJ-CX-0002), the Joyce Foundation, and the Soros Foundation. Views expressed in this document are my own and do not necessarily represent those of the granting agencies.
    [Show full text]
  • DEVAH PAGER Department of Sociology
    DEVAH PAGER Department of Sociology Princeton University 157 Wallace Hall Princeton, NJ 08544 EMAIL: [email protected] Education 2002 Ph.D., Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dissertation: The Mark of a Criminal Record Winner of the American Sociological Association Dissertation Award, 2003 1997 M.A., Sociology, Stanford University 1996 M.A., Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa 1993 B.A., Psychology, University of California-Los Angeles Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude, College Honors, UCLA Chancellor's Service Award Employment 2004- Princeton University Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology Faculty Associate, Office of Population Research 2002-04 Northwestern University Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research 2002-03 Fulbright Scholar, Paris, France Centre de Recherches Sociologiques sur le Droit et les Institutions Penales Grants and Fellowships 2006-10 NIH Mentored Scientist Award (K01), “Discrimination in the Lives of Young Disadvantaged Men,” $762,716. 2006-10 NSF CAREER Award, “Toward Improving the Conceptualization and Measurement of Discrimination,” $401,000 2006-10 WT Grant Scholars Award, “Barriers in the Pathway to Adulthood: The Role of Discrimination in the Lives of Young Disadvantaged Men,” $300,000 2005-07 National Institute of Justice, “Investigating Prisoner Reentry: The Impact of Conviction Status on the Employment Prospects of Young Men.” (PI, with co-PI Bruce Western), $275,587 2003-06 National Science Foundation, “Discrimination in Low-Wage
    [Show full text]
  • Pager and Western on “Discrimination Testers”
    Discrimination in Low-Wage Labor Markets1 Devah Pager Bruce Western Bart Bonikowski Princeton University October, 2006 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE OR CITE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORS 1 This research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, the JEHT Foundation, the Princeton Research Institute on the Region and the Industrial Relations Section of Princeton University. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and Commisioner Patricia Gatling. Direct all correspondence to Devah Pager, Department of Sociology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, [email protected] Despite a booming U.S. labor market through the late 1990s, racial differences in employment remain among the most intractable economic inequalities. While unemployment rates declined for all groups in the 1990s, young black men remained twice as likely to be unemployed relative to whites of their age. Further, racial inequality in measures of joblessness—which include those who have exited the formal labor market altogether—widened substantially over this period among young black and white men.2 How can we explain these large and enduring inequalities in employment? Historically, research on racial inequality in employment strongly emphasized the role of labor market discrimination. In An American Dilemma, Gunnar Myrdal argues that “the concentration of unemployment upon the Negro people is explainable only as the direct and indirect effects of discrimination” (p.998; see also Pettigrew, 1975; Allport, 1958). Continuing in this tradition, more recent research has investigated the preferences and attitudes of employers as possible sources of persistent racial disparities in the labor market.
    [Show full text]
  • This Paper Explores the Relationship Between Economic Growth and the Welfare State. We Argue That
    RESEARCH INSTITUTE POLITICAL ECONOMY Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis Lawrence King, David Stuckler, & Patrick Hamm October 2006 Gordon Hall 418 North Pleasant Street Amherst, MA 01002 Phone: 413.545.6355 Fax: 413.577.0261 [email protected] www.umass.edu/peri/ WORKINGPAPER SERIES Number 118 Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis1 Lawrence King1, David Stuckler2, and Patrick Hamm3 October 5th, 2006 Keywords: postcommunist, mortality crisis, privatization, psychosocial stress. JEL codes: I12, J18, L33, P36. 1University of Cambridge, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. E-mail: [email protected]. 2 University of Cambridge, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. E-mail: [email protected]. 3Harvard University, Department of Sociology. E-mail: [email protected] Word Count: 15,934 1 The authors would like to thank David Ellerman, Silke Aisenbrey, Lawrence Raffalovich, Paul Starr, Tom DiPrete, Bruce Western, Katherine Newman, Karl Mayer, Ivan Szelenyi, Bill Domhoff, Peter Bearman, Jim Vreeland, Devah Pager, Marcus Kurtz, and Andrew Schrank for assistance on, and comments and criticisms of, various drafts of this paper. We would also like to thank the participants at the conference on mass privatization held at the Maxwell European Center, of Syracuse University, in Washington, D.C., in February of 2006, as well as participants at department colloquia and workshops at Yale, Columbia, Princeton and the University of Massachusetts. 1 Abstract During the transition to capitalism, the postcommunist countries have experienced unprecedented mortality crises, although there has been considerable variation within — and between — countries and regions. Much of this variation remains unexplained, although alcohol and psychological stress have been found to be major causes of declining life expectancy.
    [Show full text]
  • Place After Prison: Neighborhood Attainment and Attachment During Reentry
    Journal of Urban Affairs ISSN: 0735-2166 (Print) 1467-9906 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujua20 Place after prison: Neighborhood attainment and attachment during reentry Jessica T. Simes To cite this article: Jessica T. Simes (2018): Place after prison: Neighborhood attainment and attachment during reentry, Journal of Urban Affairs, DOI: 10.1080/07352166.2018.1495041 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2018.1495041 Published online: 02 Aug 2018. Submit your article to this journal View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ujua20 JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2018.1495041 Place after prison: Neighborhood attainment and attachment during reentry Jessica T. Simes Boston University ABSTRACT More than 600,000 people leave prison and become residents of neighbor- hoods across the United States annually. Using a longitudinal survey of people returning to Greater Boston, this study examines disparities in neighborhood attainment after prison. Accounting for levels of pre-prison neighborhood disadvantage, Black and Hispanic respondents moved into significantly more disadvantaged areas than Whites. Neighborhood resi- dence was not attained by all: One-quarter of respondents left prison and entered formal institutional settings or lived in extreme social marginality throughout Boston. Neighborhood attachment was patterned by criminal justice involvement and experiences of material hardship in the year after prison. Findings indicate that housing insecurity, re-incarceration, and pro- found racial disparities in neighborhood context explain the ecological structure of social inequality in urban neighborhoods in an era of mass incarceration.
    [Show full text]
  • Unions, Norms, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality
    ASR76410.1177/0003122411414817Weste 414817rn and RosenfeldAmerican Sociological Review American Sociological Review 76(4) 513 –537 Unions, Norms, and the Rise © American Sociological Association 2011 DOI: 10.1177/0003122411414817 in U.S. Wage Inequality http://asr.sagepub.com Bruce Westerna and Jake Rosenfeldb Abstract From 1973 to 2007, private sector union membership in the United States declined from 34 to 8 percent for men and from 16 to 6 percent for women. During this period, inequality in hourly wages increased by over 40 percent. We report a decomposition, relating rising inequality to the union wage distribution’s shrinking weight. We argue that unions helped institutionalize norms of equity, reducing the dispersion of nonunion wages in highly unionized regions and industries. Accounting for unions’ effect on union and nonunion wages suggests that the decline of organized labor explains a fifth to a third of the growth in inequality—an effect comparable to the growing stratification of wages by education. Keywords wages, inequality, unions, labor markets, norms The decline of organized labor in the United DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux 1996); and States coincided with a large increase in wage limited, accounting for only a small fraction inequality. From 1973 to 2007, union member- of rising inequality and only among men ship in the private sector declined from 34 to 8 (Card, Lemieux, and Riddell 2004). percent for men and from 16 to 6 percent for We revisit the effects of union decline on women. During this time, wage inequality in inequality and offer two extensions to earlier the private sector increased by over 40 percent.
    [Show full text]
  • THE FEDERAL INTERAGENCY REENTRY COUNCIL a Record of Progress and a Roadmap for the Future
    THE FEDERAL INTERAGENCY REENTRY COUNCIL A Record of Progress and a Roadmap for the Future President Barack Obama holds a discussion with incarcerated men at El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, July 16, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) AUGUST 2016 Contents Letter from the Co-Chairs ..............................................................iii Executive Summary. v Participating Departments and Agencies .................................................xiii Introduction ..........................................................................1 What is Reentry and Why is it Important? ................................................3 The Federal Interagency Reentry Council ................................................13 Actions to Date, Objectives, and Next Steps .............................................17 Improving Access to Meaningful Employment Opportunities .............................21 Improving Access to Meaningful Educational Opportunities ..............................32 Improving Access to Health Care, Treatment, and Benefts ...............................39 Improving Housing Stability .........................................................48 Reducing Collateral Consequences ..................................................52 Supporting Children of Incarcerated Parents and their Families ...........................58 Improving Reentry Outcomes for Special Populations ..................................64 Conclusion ..........................................................................75
    [Show full text]
  • Racialized Re-Entry: Labor Market Inequality After Incarceration Bruce Western, Catherine Sirois
    Racialized Re-entry: Labor Market Inequality After Incarceration Bruce Western, Catherine Sirois Social Forces, Volume 97, Number 4, June 2019, pp. 1517-1542 (Article) Published by Oxford University Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/726072 Access provided at 10 Jul 2019 04:46 GMT from Columbia University Libraries Race and Incarceration 1517 Race and Incarceration Racialized Re-entry: Labor Market Inequality After Incarceration Bruce Western, Columbia University Catherine Sirois, Stanford University .................................................................................................................. hy do some people succeed in the labor market after incarceration but others do not? We study the transition from prison to work with data on Wmonthly employment and earnings for a sample of men and women observed for a year after incarceration. More than in earlier research, the data pro- vide detailed measurement of temporary and informal employment and richly describe the labor market disadvantages of formerly incarcerated men and women. We find that half the sample is jobless in any given month and average earnings are well below the poverty level. By jointly modeling employment and earnings, we show that blacks and Hispanics have lower total earnings than whites even after account- ing for health, human capital, social background, crime and criminal justice involve- ment, and job readiness. A decomposition attributes most of the earnings gaps to racial and ethnic inequalities in employment. Qualitative interviews suggest that whites more than blacks and Hispanics find stable, high-paying jobs through social networks. These findings support a hypothesis of racialized re-entry that helps explain the unusual disadvantage of African Americans at the nexus of the penal sys- tem and the labor market.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Bruce Western August 2013
    Curriculum Vitae Bruce Western August 2013 Address: Department of Sociology E-mail: [email protected] Harvard University Phone: (617) 495-3879 33 Kirkland Street Fax: (617) 496-5794 Cambridge, MA 02138 Education B.A. (Hons.) First Class, Government, University of Queensland (Australia), 1987. M.A., Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990. PhD., Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1993. Appointments Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2013 to present. Faculty Chair, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2013 to present. Director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2011 to present. Professor of sociology, Harvard University, 2007 to present. Director of the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy, Harvard University, 2007 to 2011. Professor of sociology, Princeton University, July 2000 to June, 2007. Faculty associate, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, September 1993 to present. Associate professor of sociology, Princeton University, 1998–2000. Assistant professor of sociology, Princeton University, 1994–1998. Lecturer with the rank of assistant professor, Princeton University, 1993–1994. Books and Monographs Grusky, David, Bruce Western, and Christopher Wimer (eds.). 2011. The Great Reces- sion. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Loury, Glenn and Bruce Western. 2010. Daedalus 139(3). Guest editors of special issue on “The Challenge of Mass Incarceration.” 1 Western, Bruce. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Patillo, Mary, David Weiman, and Bruce Western (eds.). 2004. Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration.
    [Show full text]
  • Mass Incarceration: an Annotated Bibliography Nicole P
    Roger Williams University Law Review Volume 21 Issue 2 Vol. 21: No. 2 (Spring 2016) Symposium on Article 11 Mass Incarceration Spring 2016 Mass Incarceration: An Annotated Bibliography Nicole P. Dyszlewski Roger Williams University School of Law Lucinda Harrison-Cox Roger Williams University School of Law Raquel Ortiz Roger Williams University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Criminal Procedure Commons Recommended Citation Dyszlewski, Nicole P.; Harrison-Cox, Lucinda; and Ortiz, Raquel (2016) "Mass Incarceration: An Annotated Bibliography," Roger Williams University Law Review: Vol. 21: Iss. 2, Article 11. Available at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR/vol21/iss2/11 This Book Note is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Roger Williams University Law Review by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MASS INCARCERATION ANNOTATED BIB_FINALEDITWORD.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 4/22/2016 12:08 AM Mass Incarceration: An Annotated Bibliography Nicole P. Dyszlewski, Lucinda Harrison-Cox, and Raquel Ortiz* INTRODUCTION The term “mass incarceration” has been used to describe America’s contemporary hyper-incarceration or over-incarceration phenomenon. Those readers who were fortunate enough to attend the 2015 Roger Williams University School of Law Symposium, Sounding the Alarm on Mass Incarceration: Moving Beyond the Problem and Toward Solutions, had the opportunity to hear a variety of speakers discuss the breadth and depth of this phenomenon. In concert with the symposium speakers, this annotated bibliography reflects a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary approach to the topic.
    [Show full text]
  • Mass Incarceration and Children's Outcomes
    Mass incarceration and children’s outcomes Criminal justice policy is education policy Report • By Leila Morsy and Richard Rothstein • December 15, 2016 Summary: Parental incarceration leads to an array of cognitive and noncognitive outcomes known to affect children’s performance in school. Therefore, the discriminatory incarceration of African American parents makes an important contribution to the racial achievement gap. Educators concerned about the closing the achievement gap should make criminal justice reform a policy priority. • Washington, DC View this report at epi.org/118615 SECTIONS Executive summary 1. Executive summary • 1 2. Introduction • 2 As many as one in ten African American students has an 3. The extent and growth incarcerated parent. One in four has a parent who is or has of mass incarceration been incarcerated. The discriminatory incarceration of in the United States African American parents is an important cause of their • 4 children’s lowered performance, especially in schools where the trauma of parental incarceration is concentrated. 4. Racial and social class In this report, we review studies from many disciplines differences in showing that parental incarceration leads to an array of children’s experiences cognitive and noncognitive outcomes known to affect with parental children’s performance in school, and we conclude that our incarceration • 7 criminal justice system makes an important contribution to 5. Outcomes for children the racial achievement gap. of incarcerated parents • 8 Educators have paid too little heed to this criminal justice crisis. Criminal justice reform should be a policy priority for 6. Plausible pathways educators who are committed to improving the between parental achievement of African American children.
    [Show full text]
  • BEYOND TITLE VII: RETHINKING RACE, EX-OFFENDER STATUS and EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION in the INFORMATION AGE Kimani Paul-Emile *
    __ VIRGINIA L. REV. __ (Forthcoming 2014) Draft: Do not circulate or cite without author’s permission BEYOND TITLE VII: RETHINKING RACE, EX-OFFENDER STATUS AND EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE Kimani Paul-Emile * ABSTRACT More than 68 million people in the United States—more than one in four adults—have had some involvement with the criminal justice system that will appear on a criminal history report. A rapidly expanding, for-profit industry has developed to collect these records and compile them into electronic databases, offering employers an inexpensive and readily accessible means of screening prospective employees. Nine out of ten employers now inquire into the criminal history of job candidates, systematically denying individuals with a criminal record any opportunity to gain work experience or build their job qualifications. This is so despite the fact that many individuals with criminal records have never been convicted of a crime, as one-third of felony arrests never result in conviction. And criminal records databases routinely contain significant errors, including false positive identifications and sealed or expunged information. The negative impact of employers’ reliance on criminal records databases falls most heavily on Black and Latino populations as studies show that the stigma of having a criminal record is significantly more damaging for racial minorities than for whites. This criminal records “penalty” limits profoundly the chance of achieving gainful employment, creating new and vexing problems for regulators, employers, and minorities with criminal records. Our existing regulatory apparatus, which is grounded in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, is ill- equipped to resolve this emerging dilemma because it fails to address systematic information failures and the problem of stigma.
    [Show full text]