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State Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearing on criminal records
Roughly 1 in 4 adults in Pennsylvania has a criminal record, according to testimony during a state Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
An invited group of state and national experts met in Harrisburg to discuss the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction with the committee, which is chaired by state Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf, a Montgomery County Republican.
"When a former inmate can't get a job, that impact affects the family, too," said Ann Schwartzman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society. "Nobody even thinks through what it really means when the bread winner is locked up. How are people going to survive? They end up struggling."
Criminal justice reform has picked up steam nationally, drawing support even from historically conservative organizations and individuals, including the Koch brothers.
In March, Reading dropped questions about criminal convictions from the city's employment application. The move is part of a national hiring initiative called, "ban the box," which delays criminal history questions until later in the hiring process.
More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia, as well as nearly 100 cities and counties - including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster and Allegheny County - have adopted fair-chance hiring policies since 2005.
Greenleaf said the hearing's purpose was twofold: to educate legislators and to advance legislation.
He was quick to point out that the sharp increase in the number incarcerated in the state has exacerbated the recidivism rate as employers have increasingly used criminal histories to deny employment.
Surveys show only about 40 percent of employers say they would hire an applicant with a criminal record.
"I've always said, punishment without rehabilitation is a failure," Greenleaf said in a telephone interview after the hearing.
Reform proponents expressed optimism that clean-slate legislation - which would seal criminal records of those with nonviolent misdemeanor offenses who remain crime-free for 10 years - could pass this session.
"It would be a win-win for Pennsylvania," said Rebecca Vallas, director of policy for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
Vallas was among those who testified at the public hearing Tuesday.
The reform effort by lawmakers, a change from earlier tough-on-crime platforms, has been attributed to ever-increasing incarceration costs fueled, in part, by out-of-control recidivism rates.
"You can tell that there's an urgency here with this," said Evelyn Morrison, director of ABBA's Advocates, a Reading civil rights group.
Morrison, who attended the hearing, added, "I don't think they're doing this just for show."
Schwartzman agreed.
"I think this could be the start of a bigger effort, but it's incumbent on us and our legislators to move forward on it," she said.
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