Need Not Apply: The Racial Disparate Impact of Pre-Employment Criminal Background Checks

The Fair Credit Reporting Act should be amended to prohibit the general use of criminal background checks in the hiring process due to the significant racial and economic disparities in employment exacerbated by the practice of criminal background checks. This article uses previous court decisions such as Griggs v Duke Power Co. (and others like it that have influenced Title VII employment protections) to debunk the myth that someone who has a criminal record is a 'riskier' hire, either in terms of work performance or likelihood of committing a crime. The author argues that, because of this lack of risk, there is no general need to run criminal background checks.

Concepcion, Jr., R. (2012). Need Not Apply: The Racial Disparate Impact of Pre-Employment Criminal Background Checks. Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy, XIX(2), 231–253. https://racism.org/index.php?option=com_%20content&view=article&id=1366:pre-employment&catid=51&Itemid=174