Life on the outside

CALIFORNIA’S PRISONS AND JAILS are overflowing largely because so many of their inmates are like boomerangs: Throw them out the front gates and before long they’re headed right back where they came from. That’s in part because crime is often the only career choice for felons rejected for legitimate jobs.

The state prison system bears part of the blame for its high recidivism rate because it does very little to train inmates for the work world. But it isn’t just about the prisons. Most job applications ask whether prospective employees have ever committed a felony; when a screener sees that box checked, the application usually goes straight to the reject pile, with the applicant given no chance to demonstrate that he or she has gone straight. The city and the county of Los Angeles are taking steps to change that.

Last week, county supervisors ordered a study on whether it would be feasible to remove the requirement that all prospective county employees reveal their history of convictions on initial job applications, and a similar measure was sent last week to the L.A. City Council’s Personnel Committee. The measures are patterned on policy changes recently adopted in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.

If the measures eventually are approved, the city and the county wouldn’t start hiring felons without knowing it. That would be a recipe for trouble, given the sensitive information and valuable public property municipal employees often manage. The laws only would apply to the initial applications, in which prospective workers are screened before being called in for interviews and more paperwork. In that later phase, applicants still would have to reveal whether they had been convicted of a felony.

The point of the measures is that they would give ex-convicts a foot in the door; an opportunity to see employers face to face without being routinely screened out. Many would still be rejected, just at a later stage of the hiring process. But at least they would be able to make the case that they deserve a second chance.

Americans tend to believe that redemption is possible; that once a felon has done time, the slate is wiped clean. But that belief is not really reflected in Americans’ hiring practices. Ex-cons represent a risk that few businesses are willing to take on. The city and county laws under consideration are a very small step toward encouraging employers to give felons a second chance, and they won’t make much of a dent in the prison population. But they’re a start.