For 18 months of her nearly six-year criminal sentence for drug smuggling, Lee focused on self-improvement. She studied real estate, updated her computer skills, got a forklift licence and participated in counselling — all while serving time at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario.
She had one goal when she got out: “I need to find employment ASAP,” she said.
So when Lee, now 34, started her job search in late 2019, she was raring to go. But despite all her self-improvement efforts, her criminal record followed her.
Every time a job application asked if she had been convicted of a crime, she panicked.
“I wasn’t aware of [that question] before because it didn’t affect me,” she said. “It almost feels like a judgement before [employers] even get to see you.”
She applied for “everything.” It was stressful — she was always worrying about background checks.
She ultimately found a few jobs in 2019, but then decided to return to school. She studied to be a dental hygienist for a few months before the pandemic forced her classes online, and she stopped the program. She later returned to school for bookkeeping and got a job earlier this year through an internship her college provided.
“I get it,” said Lee, which is not her real name to protect her privacy. “If I didn’t go to jail, I’d probably have a stigma against people that have gone to prison.”
Although she left prison with many certificates, they’re now “in a binder in my mom’s basement,” she says. And when job applications ask if she’s been convicted of a crime, she doesn’t have a chance to talk about the programs she is proud to have completed.
But a new policy paper suggests criminal records should include more than just someone’s convictions, arrests or involvement with the police.
“The problem with the criminal record is that it is a consolidated list of the decisions that are among an individual’s worst in life. It is an incomplete picture of a human being,” says the report, Humanizing Criminal Records, released last week by the non-partisan think tank Cardus, which researches public institutions’ role in society.
The report argues that individuals should be able to have information about work, rehabilitation or other programs they attended through the justice system included on their criminal record.
“The proposal very specifically is to include another side of someone’s relationship with the criminal justice system directly on the criminal record,” said Renze Nauta, director of Cardus’s work and economics program, who authored the report.
“[I]t tries to provide a more balanced view of who that person is.”
Employment barrier
Criminal records are a big barrier to employment. A 2021 study from Public Safety Canada found that only half of people released from federal prisons were employed 14 years later. Those who were employed had an average annual income of $14,000. “This loss of employment opportunities for released offenders is likely a contributor to reoffending,” the study says.
Some US jurisdictions have stopped asking about criminal records on initial applications for specific jobs, often known as “ban the box” laws or policies. In some cases, employers are prohibited from asking about a criminal record until there is a conditional offer of employment. In most states that have them, ban-the-box policies or laws only apply to public sector jobs. But in other states, private employers are also included.
Many people with criminal records refuse to apply for jobs that require a criminal record check, said Samantha McAleese, a critical criminology professor in Brock University’s sociology department.
It can be easy for employers to dismiss an application if someone has a criminal record, she says. Asking about criminal records later in the job process can help potential employees get an interview.
“Not having it at the front end of the process can at least open the door for more people to get further along in the hiring processes,” she said.
It may not be feasible to add information about involvement in work and rehabilitation programs to criminal records, she says. But employers need to know more about a potential employee than their criminal history.
“I’m less concerned about that being facilitated through another document or another piece of paper and instead having that facilitated through more interpersonal interactions,” she said.
Adding this information to criminal records isn’t a “silver bullet,” says Nauta. The collection of criminal records varies across Canada. There would need to be other policy changes to make this possible, he says.
But a change like this would have great “symbolic” power, he says. “It points to a greater reality,” he said. “In all of our dealings with people, we should be striving to see people as whole human beings and not boiling them down to just one aspect.”
‘Flip a switch’
Employers often don’t know about the skills that people with criminal records have, says Kate Crozier, director of Stride, a restorative justice program at the Community Justice Initiatives of Waterloo Region. Stride works with women who are serving time at the Grand Valley Institution for Women.
This year, Stride brought employers into the prison to teach women how to qualify for jobs in specific careers. Many women said they’re interested in careers in cosmetology or personal training, says Crozier. But people in prison and potential employers don’t often get to meet.
Once they do, it can “flip a switch for employers,” she said. Several are now showing some interest in hiring people with criminal records, she says.
Employers’ needs are important, says Nauta.
“They’re the ones responsible for keeping the workplace safe or keeping the business running,” he said. But they shouldn’t “say that someone with a criminal record is automatically disqualified.”
It can be hard for people to find the confidence to apply for jobs after being incarcerated, says Emily O’Brien. O’Brien got the idea for her popcorn company, Comeback Snacks, while serving a drug smuggling sentence at Grand Valley Institution for Women.
Comeback Snacks hires people with criminal records to sell the product at community markets. She says she knows more companies are open to hiring people with criminal records, but more needs to be done.
“Having a record just means you’ve done something wrong, and everyone knows about it. But everyone in the entire world has done something wrong,” she said.
These days, Lee is content as a bookkeeper. It’s “therapeutic,” she says. “The numbers have to match. It’s almost like it gives you clues if you’re not doing it right.”
No one asked if she had a criminal record. But she still worries about what will happen if her bosses find out.
Lee said it would be “amazing” if her criminal record could mention the certificates she earned while incarcerated.
“I feel like that would really paint the picture of ‘Yeah, you know what? She messed up. But while she did mess up, during that time she was very productive’.”
