‘Ban The Box’ Campaign Wants Metro To Stop Asking Job Applicants’ Criminal History

“Ban The Box” — a national campaign to convince employers to drop questions about applicants’ criminal history — has launched a petition to strike the requirement from Metro Nashville job forms.

Organizers say they need 7,000 signatures to get the matter on Metro’s August ballot. If they succeed, they say countless former inmates could find it easier to resettle into society, giving them more stability and reducing the chances that they’ll offend again.

“People who have been to prison are not all monsters,” said Andrew Krinks, one of the campaign’s co-organizers. “They’re not all people who don’t deserve to be reintegrated into our communities.”

Campaigners have been going door-to-door in some neighborhoods. They’ve been setting up at candidates’ forums, in busy business districts and inside some churches.

Their goal is to change Metro’s charter so that the city could no longer ask about criminal histories on job applications.

Many private employers — most recently Koch Industries — have already committed to drop the question from their forms. So have some governments.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, eliminated the question five years ago. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, did so in February.

In Nashville, the change would affect only jobs with Metro government — and even then, many positions wouldn’t be covered.

The box could remain on applications for jobs that can’t be held by people with criminal pasts. Hiring managers would also have the freedom to ask about applicants’ records when they come in for interviews.

But campaigners say the box itself is often the most difficult hurdle for ex-cons to clear. Eliminating it would raise their chances of making a good first impression.

Krinks wouldn’t say how many signatures organizers have collected so far, but he says progress has been steady, especially among people who have criminal pasts or know those who do.

Bonna Johnson, a spokeswoman for Mayor Karl Dean, says the question “would be a good issue for voters to decide.”

“We recognize that there are some employers — both public and private — who do not inquire about criminal history on initial job applications,” she said. “When it comes to hiring, Metro Government is committed to a workforce that reflects the diversity in our community, whether cultural or otherwise.”