Collateral consequences, criminal records and employment

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

The first paper challenges the so-called ‘subordinate importance’ of collateral legal consequences following a criminal conviction in comparison to actual punishment. It examines a peculiar case in which punishment fails to be imposed, but significant consequences akin to those usually arising from punishment nevertheless take effect, for example, citizenship deprivation and denial of repatriation of suspected offenders.

This panel furthermore explores the relationship between criminal records and employment in important novel ways.

The second paper combines a multi-method study, consisting of surveys, interviews and a participatory symposium, to explore employers’ attitudes towards hiring people with convictions (PWCs). Evidence-based approaches and a toolkit for inclusive hiring are presented, which allow for creating clear and consistent policies and practices regarding employment and reintegration of PWCs.

The third paper applies an interdisciplinary quantitative study based on the large body of research on applicant reactions towards job selection procedures. The perceptions of various stakeholders, e.g. employers, applicants and screeners, are measured regarding the fairness and validity of criminal-record based pre-employment screening, also in comparison to several standard selection procedures.

The fourth paper uses a systematic review to analyse the multidisciplinary literature on the relation between criminal records and on the job behaviour. Can it be evinced that people with criminal records make poor employees? It synthesises empirical evidence on, e.g., the relation between criminal records and task performance, organizational citizenship behaviour, and workplace deviance.

The fifth paper critically examines the harms of exclusion and the narrative of ‘harm prevention’ surrounding collateral consequences. By adopting a social harm perspective, a reconceptualisation of collateral consequences as ‘harm production’ is presented, based on findings from semi-structured interviews with approximately 15 individuals with a criminal record in England and Wales.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Non-Criminal Justice Responses to Delinquency (WG on Collateral Consequence of Criminal Records)

Chair

• Alessandro Corda, Queen's University Belfast

Individual Presentations

• No conviction, no consequences? Examining the consequences of the state’s failure to punish - Milena Tripkovic, University of Edinburgh

• The Secondary Punishment: A Study on Employer Attitudes to Hiring People with Criminal Convictions and Toolkit for Inclusive Hiring - Joe Garrihy, Maynooth University; Ciara Bracken-Roche, Maynooth University

• Reactions towards pre-employment screening procedures: Perceptions of fairness and validity. - Ard Barends, Leiden University; Elina van 't Zand-Kurtovic, Leiden University

• Criminal records and on the job behavior: A systematic literature review. - Elina van 't Zand-Kurtovic, Leiden University; Ard Barends, Leiden University

• The Harms of Exclusion: A Critical Analysis of Collateral Consequences of A Criminal Conviction - Amy Gwen Sage, University of Bristol