ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - A policy meant to help ex-offenders land jobs may be doing more harm than good.
Ban the Box allows people to apply for a job without disclosing their criminal history. The policy prohibits employers from asking applicants if they have been convicted of a felony and new research at the University of Virginia shows a lack of information can force employers to make judgement, often based on race.
Ricky Shumo spent time behind bars in 2013 for grand larceny. The policy has allowed him to successfully land job working at McDonald's.
"I can see a lot happening because I'm networking and I'm getting other job leads," said Shumo.
Advocates at Total Action for Progress, or TAP, as well and Roanoke city leaders pushed for the policy in 2014.
But now, University of Virginia researchers found that policy may lead to employers discriminating more broadly by not having all of the applicant's history when applying for a job.
"Employer's still don't want to hire folks with criminal records and so now when they can't see who has a record upfront, they're left to guess who has a record," said UVA Professor Jen Doleac. "They will avoid interviewing, in particular, young, low-skilled black and Hispanic."
"That's what the whole purpose of 'Ban the Box' was about," said Russ Poiendexter, the TAP ex-offender program manager. "So it's interesting to note that, that's having a reversal effect because we haven't noticed that necessarily here."
If anything, Poiendexter said it's helping ex-offenders in our community avoid discrimination.
From October 2015 to this June, TAP has helped 47 ex-offenders, like Shumo, go through the job process without having to check if they've been incarcerated, 40 have successfully been placed in jobs.
"Maybe we just don't realize that that's happening because like I said, with our programs we've been very successful," said Poiendexter.
"I think before 'Ban the Box' there was a lot of discrimination because with a felony conviction it stops you from getting a lot of jobs," said Shumo.
TAP said regional differences may have an impact on UVA's study and would like to see more research.