Mike Muller, Gotham Gazette, May 14, 2009
{snip} According to a recent article published in the journal the Annals of the American Academy, just getting a call back from prospective employers in New York City can be twice as hard for blacks with a criminal record than for their white counterparts. Only 10 percent of black ex-offenders in the study received a callback after dropping off an application, while 22 percent of their white counterparts got one. The difference in callbacks between those without records was much smaller, where 25 percent of blacks did compared 31 percent for whites.
Just over half of inmates in New York prisons are black.
The report—written by Devah Pager, an associate professor at Princeton, Bruce Western, a professor at Harvard, and Naomi Sugie, a PhD student at Princeton—also stresses the importance of building a personal rapport in getting a job. They found that personal contact with a prospective employer improved the chances by 15 percent of those with criminal records in getting a callback or interview.
{snip}
To get the results of this test, they sent out trained job seekers with fake criminal records to 250 actual job listings. The applicants were sent in pairs of the same race, all males aged 22 to 26 and with a height of around 6-feet tall. Each were supplied with the same history—high school only, steady unskilled employment—and were paired to match similar verbal skills and even physical attractiveness. But one was told to say he was recently released from prison, having been incarcerated for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The jobs they sought out were restaurant positions, telemarketing, retail work and such, all found through the major papers and on Craigslist.
{snip}
[Editor’s Note: “Sequencing Disadvantage: Barriers to Employment Facing Young Black and White Men with Criminal Records,” by Devah Pager, et al., can be read or downloaded as a PDF file here.
Original article
(Posted on May 15, 2009)
Comments
Aside from the simulated job seekers, I think the reason why black ex-cons don’t get callbacks at the same rate that white ex-cons do is that black rap sheets tend to be longer and more serious than white rap sheets. I could just imagine that in this simulation, the personnel departments thought that the blacks’ rap sheets were longer than their applications suggested.
Quite frankly, I would be reluctant to hire anyone with a crimaial record regardless of race.
White person gets out of jail, everyone in the neighborhood pretty well shuns him.
Black person gets out of jail, everyone in the hood is like “You da man!”
It’s like a badge of honor to black people. If I were an employer, knowing what I do about differences between the races, I sure wouldn’t hire the black guy. He’s more likely to be a career criminal than the white guy, and he’d be more likely to steal stuff or get into trouble.
Probably the offense an ex-con is convicted of heavily affects post prison employment opportunities. White ex-cons tend to have been convicted of less violent crimes.
The Los Angeles Police Department is actively recruiting hispanics and blacks with felonies. Why not apply?
That black serial killer and rapist john Flyod Thomas known as Los Angeles’ worst serial killer had no trouble getting a highly paid job with the State of California Workmen’s Comp agency after he was released from prison with a serious felony record.
Wow! This is a real challenge, a real mystery to figure out. Why would it be twice as hard for blacks with a criminal record than for their white counterparts to get a call back?
Blacks represent 13% of the population but “Just over half of inmates in New York prisons are black.”
I don’t think employers have a hard time figuring it out but apparently people who do surveys do.
“were paired to match … physical attractiveness”
Is there any question that the standards for black “physical attractiveness” were much lower than the standard for white “physical attractiveness”? The fact that merely being black reduces “physical attractiveness” was obviously not considered, and I highly doubt that the researchers responsible for the study were willing to be realistic about black “physical attractiveness” to the potential employers, who were almost certainly white.
“Black ex-cons have more trouble finding jobs than white ex-cons.”
Gee, I wonder if it could be because blacks commit violent crimes at many times the white rate.
Also, nobody white in his right mind is going to hire the congregants of Jeremiah Wright’s church after watching them laughing and clapping gleefully every time Wright mentioned something derogatory about whites, and they’re supposed to be a cut above the criminals regarding behavior.
Who wants to hire someone who is full of hate for whites and blames them for every lack of ability he has, like scoring below average on an I.Q. test. That can be nobody’s fault but the test taker, unless he’s black then it’s whitey’s fault.
Will the disgusting whining never end?
Why not head down to the human services department and see how they handle diversity? Might ex-cons apply for government services there? How about the local foodstamp office, and the public housing department? The local vocational retraining program and community college too.
Why is it when politically correct sensitive types have almost complete power… why is it under their very noses… that there is the most drastic racial inequality?
There is also the small point that blacks, for the most part, don’t have any skills. That might have a bit to do with it.
For example, if a black shows up for a job of welder and doesn’t know how to weld, but wants to be one, then that could be a problem.
Tom Iron…
As most employers already know, blacks in general make worse employees regardless of criminal record. Blacks not only tend to be worse employees, but they’re obviously more likely to sue for racial discrimination (justified or not). Fire a white man and he’ll just find another job. Fire a black man and you might be accused of having fired him just because he’s black. Who needs the extra grief? Far safer to hire whites whenever possible.
Another factor-and I’m guessing here,but it’s an educated guess-is that whites in prison are more likely to have contacts who can help them get a job of some sort when they’re released than are black convicts.
I’ve worked on construction jobs with several people who were ex-convicts,and in at least two of these cases,the guys got the job because they had a brother or cousin who was willing to put in a good word for them with the boss. (In at least one case,the brother WAS the boss.)
Blacks are almost certainly not going to be nearly as likely as whites to have a brother,in-law,or other individual who’s willing to go to bat for them when they get out of jail. No one to tell the boss,”Hey,look,I need some help,and this guy just got out of jail and needs a job-and I’m pretty sure he’s learned his lesson.”
Throw in a tendency that has been noted by me,and others for blacks to treat things like showing up on time,or showing up at all as options instead of requirements and it’s no wonder that employers are reluctant to hire blacks released from prison.
And as has been mentioned,probably the majority of white parolees looking for work have records that involve certain banned pharmaceutical products. While they were tempted by the thought of easy money and fell,they aren’t nearly as likely as blacks to have records involving armed robbery,assault,or the like.
I can-and have-worked alongside convicted drug dealers who were honestly pretty decent people. If the product they were selling was illegal,and arguably harmful,at the least,they never held a gun to the head of a potential customer and forced a sale.
I have not,and will not work next to a convicted armed robber. I’m pretty tolerant,but there are limits.
As an earlier poster stated, I’d rather not be around any criminals. I was working at a telemarketing agency last fall and all of my coworkers (even my immediate supervisor) were from halfway houses and/or were in prison. Luckily I quit (well, got fired for not meeting my quota) not too soon thereafter.
I think Devah Pager and Bruce Western should should hire some black ex cons to work in their respective academic departments at princeton and harvard. Having a few black ex cons around would surely diversify and enrich the atmosphere Im sure. Dont mind the fact that many of these ex cons are pretty bad people who have done pretty bad things. Im sure Devah and Bruce wont mind working closely with them after all they are advocating with their cheap attempt to prove “racism” against black ex cons that other people do that very thing surely they wont mind teaching by example.
People understandably don’t want to work next to someone who steals or kills as part of their lifestyle.
But even more important, blacks who end up in prison are people who did nothing in high school and rarely attended even a year or two of community college. They might have a “diploma’, but high schools do anything to tutor or give easy projects to lazy, incompent students so they will graduate.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, graduation rates are a factor in whether the school administration is fired or not. Guess if the lowest IQ, worst attending, worst behaved students will get diplomas nevertheless?
The real point is that it is a risk to hire any black high school graduate or dropout; some college attendees and even some “graduates” of colleges, especially from the “historic” black colleges which are day care centers for 21 years olds.
LBJ, the Kennedys, Soviet-puppet Martin Luther King,the Communist-run legal organizations and the Humphrey liberals shoved the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on us; but the American people have been fighting this communist bit of violation of property rights for nearly fifty years, and with amazing success.
The unrelenting American drive for success based on merit drives the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the Black Caucus nuts. Yes, Affirmative Action and massive hiring of incompetent blacks, particularly by government, drives us crazy, but much of the private sector and even nonprofit sector relies on intelligence and skill to hire staff.
Great! Laws that are tyranny can never be completely enforced nor be successful. We are free to hire whom we want and to associate with whom we want. George Wallace, not the Kennedys nor King, was the greatest patriot of the 1960’s and 70’s.
“Black ex-cons have more trouble finding jobs than white ex-cons.”
I know what! If they had their own society, they couldn’t claim that anybody was discriminating against them. That would solve it. End of problem.
This is what professors at Harvard are wasting their time doing. When will we see the same type of experiment done only for ethnicity instead of race and targeted towards jobs in the media, finance and academia?
In the 1980’s, the City of Detroit stooped to hiring people with felony rap sheets for their police department. This was done because of “residency requirements”; there were not enough non-criminal applicants living within city limits. For a number of years later (and possibly still going on) bad cops were involved in various “criminal protection” rackets and other nefarious behavior. Fortunately, the “residncy requirements” were dropped not too long ago.
Might ex-cons apply for government services there? How about the local foodstamp office, and the public housing department?
Of course,,,,IF they’re black!
How come in the black community criminals are looked at as “cool” or “a victim of oppression” yet in the white communities we look down upon criminals and we don’t trust them. We don’t care to hear the white criminals’ excuses as to why they are evil people, yet when it comes to blacks, it’s always “oh, you pooooor, pooooooor baby. You’re a victim of an oppressive, white, capitalistic society. It’s not your fault you did drugs or shot someone or robbed a bank or almost beat someone to death.”
Here’s a news story for you Mr. Taylor - “[Black] Men rob 85-year-old seeking church’s money” - http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/731845.html
I wouldn’t hire Blacks, or other Minorities, whether they were in Prison, or not.
