Ok now let's ban the background check

City Council advanced a "ban the box" ordinance out of committee today.  It's expected to pass the full Council easily.  That's good news. But it's really just a small step.  To begin with, the ordinance only writes a currently established city policy into law. It broadens the rule to include city contractors as well.  But it can't stop there. Ex offenders looking for private sector work have rights too.  It's only the anti-democratic practice of state level preemption that keeps our locally elected government from extending its protection to them.

Another reason we can't stop here is banning "the box" doesn't actually remove the stigma ex offenders face when applying for a job. It only pushes it further back in the process.

The ordinance bars the city from requesting information on job applicants’ criminal history on initial employment applications and requires that criminal background checks only be conducted after an applicant has been through an initial interview. Advocates argue that the delay gives people with criminal history a chance to make the case for a job before their record comes into play.

“Moving this screening further into the process allows applicants to show the best version of themselves at the outset,” Palmer said.

That's a helpful change but it's not really justice. Why not ban the background check altogether?  People can't be held in a second class of citizenship simply because they've been processed through our criminal legal system. And employment discrimination isn't the only barrier they face.

Even after a much lauded voting rights reform law passed this year, felons still have to endure five years of disenfranchisement after their sentence has ended. That's not good enough.  Even after a law barring ex-cons from running for office for 15 years was declared unconstitutional, the legislature has created a constitutional amendment that would restore that ban at 5 years. That would be a step back in the wrong direction.  Louisiana voters have an opportunity to defeat that amendment on their November ballot this year. They probably won't, though. Which, again, means there's a lot of work to do beyond just banning the box.