Criminal History
Records and
Higher Education:
Leveraging Second
Chances
Pathways of Possibility
Conference
February 27, 2013
New York, New York
Marsha Weissman, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Center for Community Alternatives
The Center for Community Alternatives
(CCA) promotes reintegrative justice and a
reduced reliance on incarceration through
advocacy, services and public policy
development in pursuit of civil and human
rights.
Discussion
•
•
•
•
Importance of higher education
Mass criminalization
Racial disparities
Lifetime consequences of a criminal
history record
• Policies & practices to ensure access to
education for people with criminal history
records
At least 8 out of 10 of the
fastest growing jobs in
the U.S. require some
postsecondary education
U.S. Department of Education 2003
Growth of Felons and Ex-felons, 1948-2010
Source: Shannon, Uggen, Thompson, Schnittker & Massoglia. 2011 GROWTH IN THE
U.S. EX-FELON AND EX-PRISONER POPULATION, 1948 TO 2010
Racial Disparities
(incarceration rates per 100,000)
7000
6000
4749
5000
4000
3000
1822
2000
708
1000
333
91
142
White
Females
Hispanic
African
Females American
Females
0
White
Males
Hispanic
Males
Black
Males
Source: West, Bureau of Justice Statistics of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2010
Lifetime Consequences
1964: Title VII prohibits
employment
discrimination based
on race, color, religion,
sex and national origin.
One out of three Black
American males in the United
States can be expected to be
jailed during his lifetime,
according to the US Justice
Department (2003).
CRIMINALS
NEED NOT
APPLY
“over 40 percent of employers indicated
that they would “probably” or
“definitely” not be willing to hire an
applicant with a criminal record for a job
not requiring a college degree…” Harry
Holzer, “How Do Crime and Incarceration
Affect the Employment Prospects of LessEducated Black Men?”
Herkimer Community College President,
Ronald Williams’ recently asserted in a
letter to advocates that the “admission to
HCCC of felons would be unfair to the
taxpaying residents of Herkimer County.”
“…punitive and overzealous tools
and approaches of the modern
criminal justice system have
seeped into our schools, serving
to remove children from
mainstream educational
environments and funnel them
onto a one-way path toward
prison.” NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE
AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC.:
School to Prison Pipeline Initiative
Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act,
“public housing authorities have
the discretion to terminate the lease
of a tenant when a member of the
household or a guest engaged in
drug-related activity, regardless of
whether tenant knew, or should
have known, of the drug-related
activity.”
Without opportunities like college, the
sentence lasts a lifetime
“The mission of the state university system shall be
.
to provide to the people of New York educational services
of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully
representative of all segments of the population ...”
SUNY Application
for Undergraduate Admission
Note: All applicants (freshmen and transfer students must answer questions 20a and 20b
20a Have you been convicted of a felony?
Yes 􀀀 No 􀀀
Collection of Criminal Justice
Information in College Admissions
5%
Collect about
all applicants
29%
66%
Do not collect
for any
applicant
Collect for
some
applicants
Source: Center for Community Alternatives 2010
Use of Criminal Justice Information in
College Admissions
Collect & use
7%
Collect don't
use
22%
55%
16%
Don't
collect/don't
use
Don't collect
but use
Source: Center for Community Alternatives 2010
Admissions-Related Uses of CJI
Have some type of CJI-related automatic bars
to admission
28%
Automatic denial based on sex offense
conviction
19%
Automatic denial based on violent conviction
16%
Automatic denial based on felony conviction
13%
Automatic denial based on campus security
office’s recommendation
11%
Source: Center for Community Alternatives 2010
Role of ATI/Reentry Programs
in Promoting Higher Education
• Partnerships and Special Programs:
– College Initiative (co-located at the Fortune Society
– On Point for College (partnership with CCA)
– College and Community Fellowship
• CCA Civic Restoration Clinic
– Obtain, review and correct criminal history records
– Obtain certificates of rehabilitation
– Understand rights and responsibilities in disclosing a criminal
history record
– Advocacy for admission
– Advocacy at sentencing
Overcoming Barriers
“Attending college and finishing my BA
(and later my master’s) is the most
important thing I need to do. I think this is
one of the very few ways I can make my
history an asset rather than a detriment. I
may end up working as a professional in
the social justice/prisoner advocacy field
largely because of that same history. So it
feels great and extremely important.”
Recommended Policy Changes
• Support/encourage a “Ban the Box” on
college applications
• Develop “best practice” recommendations
to guide how colleges and universities
screen for criminal justice records
• Support/sponsor research on the rate of
campus crime committed by students with
criminal history records compared to
students without such records
For more information or to download the study
The Use of Criminal History Screening in
College Admissions
go to:
www.communityalternatives.org