Nick Fouts’ Capstone Project Intro | Ban the Box

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For many people, filling out a job application can be relatively stress free, and maybe even exciting. However, for people who have been previously arrested or convicted, filling out a job application may not be worth the effort. A movement called the Ban the Box campaign was started in 2004, with goals of changing perceptions of people with histories of convictions or jail time.

The phrase “ban the box” refers to the checkbox on many applications that asks if the applicant has criminal history. Calling on cities and states to remove this checkbox, the movement urges employers to hire based on knowledge, skills, abilities and qualifications, rather than judging based on conviction history. In the case of many companies, applications will not even be considered if that box is checked. For many people who have been convicted of a crime in the past, their crimes were small or so long ago that they are irrelevant and would not impact their ability to do the job, yet employers still chuck the applications. With a significant percentage of adults having a conviction history, this issue can be detrimental to a person’s future after serving jail time.

For this project, I will produce an infographic with statistics about incarceration and employment to illustrate how difficult it is for people with criminal history to find employment. I will also create an animation that explains the issue and provides a solution and alternatives that benefit everyone.

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