Hiring Former Offenders: Incentives and Imperatives

Effective business leaders number among the smartest people in the country. Success in business requires a methodical intelligence particularly adept at connecting the dots between raw facts and logical conclusions. In most businesses, relying on emotional responses to marketplace behavior amounts to irresponsible and reckless mismanagement. In summarily dismissing the notion of hiring persons convicted of criminal behavior, however, I contend that many business leaders disserve their business and their community. Many business leaders disserve their business and their community by refusing to hire former offenders despite clear financial incentives to do so, and clear costs for not doing so.

Financial incentives for hiring former offenders include: 1) the Federal Bonding Program, and 2) the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. You will find information concerning the Federal Bonding Program at: http://www.drc.ohio.gov/Quality/OJL_bonding.htm. You will find information regarding the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) at: http://www.drc.ohio.gov/Quality/OJL_wotc.htm.

The costs associated with a blanket rejection of all job applicants with a criminal background extend far and wide. Growth in public expenditures for corrections markedly out paces growth in all other expenditures, sending ripples of stress throughout our economy, and our public life. Lack of career opportunities for former offenders--more than any other single factor--contributes directly to an outrageous and unacceptably-high recidivism rate, as more than half of all former offenders return to prison within three years of release from prison. With 8,000 persons released into our community from Ohio prisons each year, the unwillingness of local businesses to hire those folks negatively impacts public safety and the quality of life in our community.

I urge you to reconsider the incentives and imperatives associated with your business' policy pertaining to hiring former offenders. In this age of global competition and tight budgets, the financial incentives in employing former offenders could prove the difference between success and failure. In this age of heightened concern for public safety and the quality of life in our community, the imperatives associated with your policy decision loom large.

If your company, in the Northeast Ohio area, will consider hiring a former offender, please call the Northeast Ohio Reentry Coalition at (216) 421-1142.

Curtis Scruggs, Executive Director
James E. Walker Jr., Senior Program Manager
Northeast Ohio Reentry Coalition