Noted: A study from the University of Wisconsin found that a person’s chances at a callback interview for an entry-level job dropped by 50% when that applicant had a criminal history. And much like the criminal justice system itself, re-entry employment discrimination has a disparate impact on Americans of color.
That same study found that while 17% of whites with a criminal record were given a call back, only 5% of African Americans were given that same opportunity to continue in the interview process.
[The study in question is “The Mark of a Criminal Record,” a 2002 sociology dissertation by Devah Pager later published in the American Journal of Sociology. Pager is now a professor at Harvard.]