As momentum builds, diverse groups of supporters have demonstrated greater urgency in making the case for criminal justice reform — from changing sentencing guidelines for nonviolent offenders to reducing barriers to employment for parolees.
In the past few weeks alone, this movement has gained increased bipartisan support as well as a prominent position among Oval Office priorities. President Obama recently became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, meeting with inmates at El Reno Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. He also commuted the sentences of 46 prisoners and called for legislation to modify sentencing rules by the year’s end during a speech at the NAACP convention. In fact, the president may gain significant backing for his proposal from one of his toughest opponents, Republican House Speaker John Boehner.
[Related: Virginia Bans Criminal History Question on Employment Applications]
Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) — the self-described political “odd couple†— introduced in June the comprehensive Safe, Accountable, Fair and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act to curtail over-criminalization and reduce recidivism. Last week, progressive and conservative business and political leaders, a group that included Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, gathered at the Bipartisan Summit on Fair Justice. Held in Washington, D.C., the session was hosted by the Coalition for Public Safety, a group committed to creating a smarter, cost-effective legal system, and #cut50, a national initiative co-founded by former Obama White House adviser and activist Van Jones to decrease the prison population by 50% over the next decade.
So why should you care? Check the stats revealed at the Summit: although the U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, it houses roughly 25% of the world’s prisoners. With 2.3 million American adults incarcerated in prisons and jails nationwide, taxpayers foot a staggering $80 billion annual bill. Moreover, African Americans are impacted disproportionately since 60% of prisoners are people of color and black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men.
Against this backdrop, Mark Holden has been traveling across the nation to educate people on why criminal justice reform is good for business and the economy. He serves as general counsel for Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest private companies and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform. At the top of its agenda is the Ban the Box campaign to remove questions related to prior criminal history from job applications — a policy also adopted by companies such as Walmart, Target, and Starbucks. In fact, he makes the argument that eliminating such practices will enable companies, large and small, to find top talent among this pool of nonviolent ex-offenders.
Given the public perception of owners Charles and David Koch, Holden readily admits he’s often asked, “What’s your dog in this fight?†His response: “Charles Koch believes in individual liberties like the Bill of Rights. We want to remove obstacles to opportunity for everybody.â€
Engaged in criminal justice reform for more than 12 years, Koch’s alliances range from groups with different political persuasions, including the ACLU; Heritage Foundation; Center for American Progress; and CPS, for which they serve as a core supporter. In fact, Holden met Jones at an event in which the activist partnered with conservative former Speaker of the House and past presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. As such, Holden has been seen on television interviews and conference stages with such progressives as Jones and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, discussing how the expansion of federal criminal laws related to the war on drugs over the past 30 years has created mass incarceration — “a poverty trap†that has snuffed out opportunities for nonviolent, first-time offenders.
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In an interview with Black Enterprise Chief Content Officer Derek T. Dingle, Holden discussed the growing criminal justice reform movement and mission to give ex-offenders a fair chance to re-integrate into society. The following are edited excerpts:
Dingle: Why do you view Ban the Box as such a vital issue?
Holden: Ban the Box, specifically, and criminal justice reform issues generally impact all of us. One in 3 adults in this country has some type of criminal record. Even if you aren’t impacted, someone you know is. The point is, if
you make a mistake early in life and it’s a felony, when you get out of prison there are 46,000 collateral consequences or burdens that could be imposed on you in different jurisdictions because of your record. What happens is, they get out of prison [and] can’t get a student loan, a business loan, a business license. They can’t get public assistance. A lot of times it’s tough to find any type of really good-paying job.That’s why the Ban the Box issue is so important. If you’ve seen [a job] application, there’s a box that a lot of companies have and the federal government has. It says ‘If you have a conviction, please check here.’ We know it’s kind of a red flag for a lot of people regardless of if they think of giving someone a second chance. You don’t want to be judged for the rest of your life for what happened on your worst day.
You still conduct background checks though.
We do background checks at the time we make a conditional hiring. The EEOC guidance is that you can consider someone’s prior conviction when making a hiring decision, but you need to be open-minded about it. You need to look at the conviction, how long ago it was, and the role that this person is seeking in the company to see if it’s a match or not.
Looking at it from our perspective as an employer, we’ve got 100,000 employees in all 50 states and 46 different countries. If we won’t even consider anyone who was ever convicted of something, then that’s short-sighted on our part. We want the best people and that could be someone who made a mistake a long time ago – or a few years ago – and is turning their life around.
Some companies are concerned about potential liabilities regarding hiring ex-offenders.
One of the ideas [from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers] is to have, basically, some immunity for corporations willing to hire people, even if they have a violent felony in their past. And if something happens, they won’t be held liable as long as they exercise reasonable due diligence.
With growing bipartisan support for overall criminal justice reform, is Koch Industries supportive of the president’s plan?
We’re very supportive of what the president is doing and what he’s done with the commutations thus far. We’d like to see more of it.
The legislation in the House right now seems to be moving. We’re in favor of the SAFE Justice Act because it’s comprehensive. At the end of the day, everything we do in the criminal justice system needs to enhance public safety. It needs to be consistent with the bill of rights and our individual liberties. Really importantly, we treat everybody in the system with dignity and respect as an individual. That includes the accused, the victims, law enforcement, the convicted, the incarcerated, those who are returning home, and their families. If you’re going to continue to treat them with a ‘scarlet F’ for felon, then really we’ve got no hope for them or us. We’re just going to spend and waste more money and devastate more communities.
You support the federal government’s response to having its contractors embrace Ban the Box. Does Koch require its suppliers to do the same?
Not necessarily. They’re separate companies. We’ll talk to them about those issues but we don’t want to be dictating – much like we don’t think the government should dictate certain hiring practices.
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We are about to get deep into presidential politics. Despite the bipartisan efforts, how do you keep criminal justice reform from becoming a political football?
I think that if you look at what’s going on right now, this is a big issue – particularly for Republican candidates. I think Rand Paul is better on these issues than anybody. I think that if you look at who’s driving it in the Senate, it’s a lot of conservatives. I think as far as presidential candidates, Ted Cruz is good on these issues. On the Democratic side, I know Hillary Clinton came out with this statement about the need to reform our criminal justice system, which was great.
These are reforms that have happened in dozens of the states, particularly a number run by Republican governors and legislatures. We’re mostly focused on nonviolent, first-time offenders, youthful offenders, low-level drug offenders, and correcting some of the inequities like the Fair Sentencing Act — the crack versus powder [cocaine] disparity. We’re not really talking about the type of thing like the Willie Horton issues from the late ’80s when all the race-baiting was going on, unfortunately.
But many politicians still use fear and agitation as a means of gaining support.
I think we’re talking about being smart on crime. I think the mood of the country is different. I think when you see Koch involved and you see the ACLU, Center for American Progress [and] President Obama giving us a ‘shout out,’ we’re giving him a ‘shout out.’ We’re working together.
Police misconduct and abuse can also feed the prison pipeline. In fact, a group of African American business leaders recently gave the NAACP Legal Defense Fund $1 million to explore this issue. Along with criminal justice reform, what are your views on policing reform?
It needs to be addressed. I think the police have a really tough job, obviously. I’ve got law enforcement in my family and I think most prosecutors and most police do it right. But some horrible things have happened. It gets back to what we were talking about, what we have decided to criminalize, what we have decided to make a priority.
Police are responding to the incentives, what they’ve been told to do. I don’t mean harm people of color or anything like that, but more with street crimes they’re supposed to go after. My hope is if we reform the system, it will help law enforcement, too, and let them do their real jobs. And that will improve the relationships with the communities. So [with] the laws, we’re really going after criminals and violent criminals, property criminals – not dealing with personal drug usage or other things. I think, hopefully, that will help the situation as well.