Thursday, November 1, 2007
An Oct. 14 article in the Lawrence Journal-World exposed the University of Kansas’ history of hiring convicted felons, with at least seven currently on the payroll, including a sex offender.
In this day and age, a stigma is placed on those who have a criminal history, especially those convicted of felonies. After paying fines, serving possible jail time and being placed on probation, the felon is then allowed to try and reintegrate his or herself into the normal working world with the thought that their debt to society had been paid. However, the article brought to mind the uneasiness that our society holds in regards to the thought of sharing a break room with a person who has a criminal history, however small or irrelevant it may be to their current position.
According to the Director of Human Resources Ola Faucher O’Shea, only within the past three or four years has the University of Kansas conducted criminal background checks. In addition, the University has only recently begun checking the Kansas Sex Offender Registry. The University may employ staff members who were hired prior to the new background checks and do not check the criminal status on current employees. O’Shea explained that there are factors that determine whether a felon would be considered for employment such as: How long ago the conviction was, the nature of the conviction, eligibility regarding the position sought and reports from previous employers.
It is of course extremely important that the University knows what type of people it employs. KU’s decision to conduct full background checks is commendable, although it should have been done earlier. While everyone should be given consideration for employment, provided they don’t pose a demonstrable risk to themselves or others on campus, common sense says that it’s still important to know the past of all employees, whether they’re maintenance workers or lecturers.
With the stigmas and extensive applicant checks, obtaining a job post-felony conviction can be difficult. As a society, we tend to ‘hang out to dry’ the easy targets, even when they have served their sentence and are trying to regain a sense of a normal life. We again point fingers at those who have done wrong, following the credo ‘once guilty, always guilty’. In order to help these felons continue to avoid lives of crime, we need to look past their history and conviction and instead consider the rehabilitation they underwent and the steps they are taking to become responsible, law-abiding citizens again.
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