Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico Victory "Ban the Box"

Julie Roberts acting director of New Mexico's Drug Policy Alliance speaks about the new legislation recently passed. New Mexico has become the second state in the nation to "ban the box" after Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law a measure prohibiting employment applications for government agencies from asking job seekers if they'd been convicted of a crime.

The measure, signed Monday, covers job applications for state, county or local government. It does not apply to private business.

The legislation doesn't prohibit employers from asking the question once they're face-to-face with applicants and doesn't stop them from doing background checks.
It passed the Senate 35-4 and the House 54-14 during this year's regular session.

Minnesota passed similar legislation in 2009, becoming the first state to outlaw the conviction question, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Employment Law Project.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• prisons
• reentry
• warondrugs
• gov.billrichardson
• drugpolicyalliance

[somuchfortalent]

@bamboo4tameshigiri

America has a major problem with inflated egos. "We are the greatest country on the planet" leads people to believe that we don't make mistake and we don't have anything to improve upon. Happy to see another state making positive changes.

[bamboo4tameshigiri]

This is one of the only countries where you get a life long punishment like that for making a mistake.

[MarijuanaCommunity]

Did they also ban the drug testing???

[Metatheist]

Victory

[whoo689]

Oh, ok. This news report kind of made it sound like it totally eliminated employers' ability to question someone about their background, esp. if they were convicted of a violent crime like murder recently.

[hibraisil]

the idea of the law is that instead of just checking a box you will be face to face with an employer and be able to explain that you didn't rape anyone, you just smoked a joint when you were 18. Employers can still ask, they just have to ask in person.

[whoo689]

3 strikes laws are the WORST. What kind of idiot bases law enforcement or jailing on BASEBALL, of all things?

[whoo689]

I mean, you make a mistake once, and you deserve a 2nd chance. Besides, whether a person is caught doing weed once or 10,000 times by cops doesn't matter!! How does that make him anymore likely to be a bad employee or anything similar?

Only the most serious felonies should be a part of your criminal record. Minor shit doesn't really matter. It has no bearing on whether you're a 'danger' to society, shit like victimless crimes.

[whoo689]

Also, if anything, asking about criminal record should only apply to serious felonies, not minor shit like having been a prostitute or buying sex from a prostitute or possession of drugs. And certainly employers should be required to follow up if they ask you upfront instead of just disqualifying you off the bat if you say "Yes" on any criminal record.

Of course, the easy and most obvious answer would just be to erase small crimes from your record after you did the time and whatnot.

[whoo689]

Unless they proved themselves able to not commit the crime again, you don't wanna hire someone who could burn your place down or kill employees that he doesn't like or you if he hates you as a boss. Know what I'm saying?

Don't chop the forest down just to get rid of a few bad trees.

[whoo689]

Well, I don't think we should eliminate that part of the applications ENTIRELY. After all, it is the LIBERTARIAN thing to be for drug freedom as well as letting PRIVATE owners of businesses hire and fire whom they want. Company or not, it's still in the private sector. I'd rather they pass a bill which RESTRICTS what employers can use as convictions to disqualify employee, such as recent drug arrests.

I mean, if they murdered or raped someone or committed arson, I'd wanna know about it.

[ffsallnamestaken]

Making misstakes is human..