The Impact of the Stigma of a Criminal Record on Young Adult’s Position on the Labor Market

• In Event: Stigma and Labor Market Disconnection: Criminal-Record-Based Risk Control, Its Effects on Employment Opportunity, and Efforts to Overcome Related Workforce Disconnection

Abstract

Criminal background screenings for employment purposes have been increasing throughout Europe in the last two decades. How does having a criminal record impact young adult’s daily lives? This paper describes the results of an ethnographic study in the Netherlands in which 35 young adult (ex-)offenders were followed during their reintegration process. It analyzes different levels of criminal-record-based exclusion from the labor market: the construction of risk in a risk-society, exclusive policies and attitudes of social institutions and employers, and the experiences of young adults of this stigma impacting their lived realities. Unlike the US and other European countries, Dutch employers cannot obtain criminal record information: this is strictly private and concealed. In the Netherlands, only the government can assess whether an applicant has committed offenses that are relevant to the occupation. Moreover, these background screenings can be requested for basically every kind of (low-risk) occupation. In practice, only petty offenders seem to be given a ‘second chance’, while severe offenders face difficulties in obtaining employment for a certain period. This popular prevention mechanism excludes ex-offenders from the job market through actual instances of stigmatization, yet their stories reveal self-exclusion is also an important mechanism leading to unsuccessful re-entry.

Author

• Elina Kurtovic, Utrecht University