Dallas County voted unanimously to adopt Ban the Box Policy

For further information, contact:

Josh Gravens

josh@organizejustice.org

469-207-5063469-207-5063

  

For Immediate Release 

Dallas County voted unanimously to adopt Ban the Box Policy

 

Dallas, Texas, November 17th, 2015: Dallas County has adopted the Ban the Box policy. Ban the Box is designed to give people with a past criminal conviction the opportunity to seek and obtain meaningful employment. 

 

A significant portion of the Dallas County population struggles to find suitable housing and employment because of application procedures. However, it is worth noting that 95% of all people who go to prison will eventually return to the community. Jobs are critical to re-integration and keeping citizens on a positive path. By adopting the Ban the Box policy, the county seeks to ensure citizens impacted by the criminal justice system can effectively begin to pull themselves up by their boot straps. It gives a fair chance at an honest, law-abiding life. 

 

In the summer of 2012, an Organize Justice member applied to over 100 places of employment, receiving only one call back. He had little success in landing a job, because of past convictions for which he had already completed all parole and probation requirements. His family struggled with homelessness and lived in poverty, not for lack of trying to obtain employment and housing, but simply because of current policy and approach to those convicted. As a society, we have adopted a stance that permanently pushes people to the margins of society, with little hope to regain their community’s trust.

 

Ban the Box policies in Dallas County begin to repair this trust.