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Employment background checks can give hiring managers important information about a candidate. But without understanding the research evidence about background checks and the statistical facts about the risk of reoffending, that information can lead to uninformed decisions that keep employers from hiring good workers who have low risk of reoffending.
RAND researchers are building a portfolio of research that addresses a major challenge for policymakers, employers, and citizens: how to connect more people who have criminal convictions to job opportunities. Increasing employment for people with convictions creates a triple win for society, the economy, and individual lives. Yet misperceptions about risks to employers of hiring candidates with criminal history records distort common views of this issue.
RAND research provides evidence that counters prevailing narratives and focuses risk assessment on key issues such as the importance of number of convictions, age, and time since last conviction. Further detail about these and other key findings can be found in our key findings on hiring people with criminal histories.
