“Discrimination on the basis of criminal records is a problem. It’s a problem for those with records. It’s a problem for their families. It’s a problem for individual communities and the larger society – it affects everyone. ”
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Many states have enacted polices to prohibit employers from discriminating against people with criminal records. Yet fathers living in states with more of these policy protections in place were less likely to be working than their counterparts in less regulated states, according to the results of a new study by a University at Buffalo sociologist.
The research published in the journal Social Problems contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that trying to address discrimination on the basis of criminal records without addressing parallel race-based discrimination typically fails to fix either problem, and could even worsen racial disparities.
“These policies are not associated with better employment outcomes for men with records,” says Allison Dwyer Emory, PhD, the study’s author and an assistant professor of sociology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.
“In fact, they’re associated with worse outcomes, not only for fathers with criminal records, but also for Black fathers who have never had criminal justice contact. White fathers with records faced some employment disadvantages, but the particular state policy was largely unrelated to their ability to find work.”
The paper looked exclusively at how these state...
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