Reducing Barriers to College Admissions For Those Who Have a Criminal Record

Reducing Barriers to College Admissions
For Those Who Have a Criminal RecorD

Last year PBS aired a four-hour documentary titled College Behind Bars, about a prison-based program run by Bard College in New York. It is a must see for anyone – particularly those politicians, college and prison personnel -- who doesn’t believe a convicted felon deserves a college education.  

Since 2001, the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) has offered men and women an opportunity to earn an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree, or both, while doing time in one of six New York prisons.

Education: An Antidote to Recidivism 

Truth be told, there is a huge benefit to educating the incarcerated: they are far less likely to re-offend after being released from prison. According to BPI’s statistics, only 2.5% of the 600-odd BPI graduates returned to prison following their release, compared to New York’s 40% recidivism rate.

Why does an education have such an impact on recidivism rates? It’s simple. Those who leave prison with a criminal background and an education are more likely to find an employer willing to take a chance on hiring them.

Whether someone goes to prison, receives probation or pays a fine, getting an education has shown to be one of the most effective ways of overcoming the stigma of having a criminal record.

Criminal Backgrounds are not Alike

Ten years ago, when I first began helping people expunge or seal their records, I naively believed that being a “convicted felon” meant you’d done something terribly wrong. What did I know? I’d never been a prosecutor or criminal defense attorney. My background up until then was in employment law.

Today, I know how misinformed I was. But many people still share this and other misconceptions about what it means to have a criminal record.

Conviction statistics underscore that criminal backgrounds are not alike. In 2013, for example, Illinois courts sentenced in excess of 1.9 million defendants. Of this number, 41.5% were charged with a felony and 58.4% were charged with a misdemeanor. More than 50% of those charged with a misdemeanor were sentenced to deferred prosecution; in other words, they weren’t convicted of any crime.

Ban-the-Box College Admissions Laws Face Opposition

When college admissions staff (or a prospective employer) automatically disqualifies someone based on the fact he/she has a criminal record, or someone is discouraged from applying at all because he/she fears being screened out of consideration, everyone loses.   

To date, few states have enacted laws banning colleges from including a criminal history question on the college application. Currently, only two states, Louisiana (2017) and Washington (2018), have enacted college admissions ban-the-box laws. In 2017, Maryland’s governor vetoed that state’s college ban-the-box law.

In 2018 and again in 2019 the Illinois General Assembly tried and failed to pass college ban-the-box legislation.

The Illinois House soundly rejected the 2019 ban-the-box legislation by a vote of 60 to 40. Nearly 80% of the public told legislators they opposed the bill. Opponents included representatives from colleges and universities across Illinois, as well as college and city police departments.

Campus Safety Defense: Fact or Fiction

Campus safety is the most common reason colleges and universities cite for including a criminal history question on their applications.

While campus safety is a legitimate concern, there is scant evidence supporting the presumption colleges who screen applicants for criminal history experience less campus crime.

A 2004 study conducted by the University of North Carolina found that only 2% of campus crimes were committed by students who’d previously been convicted of a felony. A 2007 study found no statistical difference in campus safety between colleges that screened for criminal history and those that didn’t.

Campus crime rates tend to be lower than the general population with one exception: sexual assaults. It is estimated that between 4 and 16% of male college students will commit a sexual assault and an estimated two-thirds will re-offend.

Unfortunately, systemic reasons make it next to impossible to weed out these student offenders: 1) most students who commit these crimes have no prior criminal record; 2) sexual assault victims are least likely to report the crime to police.    

Breaking Down Barriers to Education One Step at a Time

Despite ban-the-box laws failing to pass in Illinois and Maryland, the ongoing debate about removing barriers to education for people with a criminal background has begun to bear some fruit.

In 2016, New York’s University system (SUNY) became one of the first colleges to voluntarily remove the criminal history question from its application form. The decision was made in response to a survey it conducted the previous year. The survey found that 62% of college applicants voluntarily withdrew from the admissions process after answering “yes” to having a felony conviction. 

In 2018, the Common Application (CA) announced it was removing the criminal history question from its form beginning in 2019-2020. First added to the application in 2006, the CA’s criminal history question was -- to put it mildly -- a hot mess. The question failed to use simple terminology or differentiate between juvenile and adult criminal history.  

The CA’s decision to remove the question was made against the wishes of the majority (public institutions). Colleges still can put the question on their supplement to the CA.

At the end of 2019, the University of Illinois (UI) announced it would no longer include a criminal history question on its 2020 application for undergraduate studies.

UI’s new policy does not take the criminal history question off the table entirely. Rather, once an applicant is provisionally admitted, he/she will have to disclose if they have a pending criminal case or a prior conviction. This is consistent with SUNY’s vetting policies, as well as the ban-the-box laws enacted so far.

If an applicant has a criminal background, UI will then evaluate whether the individual poses a threat to campus safety. Anyone denied admissions due to the safety assessment has a right to appeal the decision.

Illinois Waives Waiting Period to Seal for Educated  

Although not a direct response to the ban-the-box debate, in 2016, Illinois gave people convicted of a crime an added incentive to enroll in a GED program, college, or other career-focused course of study, while serving their sentences.

Instead of waiting three years from the end of their last criminal sentence to qualify to seal their criminal record, individuals who have proof of completing a course of study can ask a judge to seal their record once completing their parole or probation.

Everyone stands to benefit from encouraging people caught in the crosshairs of our criminal justice system to get a college or career education.