The Informant

Over the past decade, the background check industry has exploded. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, in 2000, about half of employers screened job applicants using criminal background checks. Nowadays, about 75 percent check applicants’ criminal histories. According to Jessica Flintoft, policy director of the San Francisco Reentry Council, the proliferation of these background checks can be a problem for a number of reasons: they’re not always accurate, they’re often misused by employers, they have the effect of rendering those with criminal pasts unemployable, and they’re detrimental to the economy.

The issue is huge simply because of the number of people it affects: an estimated 56 million people in have criminal histories in the United State and about one in four Californians–a product of decades of escalating incarceration and increasing use of the criminal justice system to resolve societal issues. When you consider that about 1 in 100 people in the US is currently behind bars–and that 95 percent of those individuals will eventually return home–the scale of the problem becomes clearer.

Because of this, a number of localities have passed laws that restrict when and how employers can use background checks when considering job applicants. The Reentry Council, along with San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission, and SF Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, are getting ready to introduce such a law in San Francisco as well. We’re running a full feature on that proposed law and what it would do on tonight’s Crosscurrents, 5pm on 91.7fm. Tune in and then let us know what you think: when is considering someone’s criminal background relevant? And when is it prejudiced?