RT Article
T1 Hiring people with criminal records in South Carolina: examining businesses’ hiring practices and views on incentives
JF Criminal justice policy review
VO 31
IS 4
SP 532
OP 554
A1 Martin, Tara E.
A2 Huffman, Amanda
A2 Koons-Witt, Barbara A.
A2 Brame, Robert W.
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/177588001X
AB The stigma of a criminal history has well-documented adverse effects on the efforts of ex-offenders to secure employment. What is less well understood is whether interventions or educational efforts targeting employers would improve access to the labor market for this population. We report results from two surveys to better understand attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders among samples of South Carolina businesses. Our results suggest that about half of employers routinely conduct background checks and approximately 60% would consider hiring someone with a criminal record. A key additional focus of our study was whether businesses were aware of various programs and incentives to encourage the hiring of ex-offenders. Our results suggest relatively low levels of awareness among the surveyed businesses and provide limited support for the idea that awareness is linked to more favorable attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders. We conclude with an assessment of study limitations and directions for future research.
K1 Criminal histories
K1 Ex-offenders
K1 Employment
K1 Collateral consequences
DO 10.1177/0887403419831062