A Call to Let Felons Start Fresh
SAN FRANCISCO — Elected leaders here Tuesday took a step unusual for politicians: They sided with felons.
With no debate, supervisors unanimously urged the city and county to delete the question about prior convictions from public employment applications.
The resolution is not binding. And it does not prevent employers from conducting criminal background checks or asking about prior felonies during job interviews.
"It's very important, because it gives you an opportunity to sell yourself to the employer," Robert Bowden, 42, an ex-convict who has been out of prison for seven years, said after the vote. "It gives you another option other than going back to what you did
In introducing the measure two weeks ago, Supervisor Tom Ammiano stressed that it would broaden the city's pool of qualified applicants while reinvesting in ex-convicts who are working to rehabilitate themselves.
The resolution prompted more than 160 letters from members of a San Francisco political action committee concerned that potential changes would hamstring city hiring managers and inappropriately allow certain classes of felons into sensitive positions.
Others nationwide watched with interest: With the vote, San Francisco became the first municipality in the state -- and possibly the country -- to grapple with what advocates say is employment discrimination against a swelling population of ex-prisoners.
Increasing security concerns since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have led to a sharp rise in criminal background checks by employers: Eighty percent conducted them in 2003, up from 51% in 1996, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. The trend has further weeded former offenders from the workplace and prompted some employers to fire otherwise stable workers who lied about criminal pasts, advocates say.
"If they can get their foot in the door so that at least they can be considered
The vote by the supervisors came the same day that San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris unveiled a "reentry" program to provide job training, education and other guidance to ex-offenders in an attempt to reduce steep recidivism rates among California parolees.
Dozens of ex-felons packed the supervisors' chambers late last month to support the employment application measure. Activists hope the San Francisco resolution will become a blueprint for others across the state. One spoke of fruitlessly seeking rental housing when his only identification was a prison ID.
