The next Pandora’s Box of criminal background checks
- The Afterlives of Conviction Project
- Mar 15, 2021
- 1 min read
To what extent do mandatory checks required by government lead to an overall increase in background checks performed by employers? This study finds that this kind of "bleed" doesn't really happen, but that employers do request "higher levels of disclosure" than is required by law (i.e. the legislation requires checking for sex-related offenses and instead they check for all crimes). The study also attributes the growth in nonmandatory background checks to the increase in employment by tech companies and laments the growing use of employment background checks growing worldwide.
Rovira, M. (2020). The next Pandora’s Box of criminal background checks. European Journal of Criminology, 1477370820977880. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370820977880
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Open Access Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1477370820977880
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"Mandatory criminal background checks required by the government may not directly lead to an increase in checks by employers, but employers are asking for more comprehensive disclosures than the law requires. The rise of background checks, especially in tech, is something to consider for both employers and applicants. For further insights, check out this article on fingerprint background checks: https://precisehire.com/the-timeline-of-fingerprint-background-checks-explained/."