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  - Ban the Box:…
    
    1 in 3 adults in the United States have a criminal record, which offers significant challenges to these individuals, including reentering the job market after incarceration. Over the years, there’s been a push for “Ban the Box” policies that call for removing questions asking about criminal history on job applications to give former offenders a fair chance by delaying background checks until later in the hiring process. Those who are against early screening argue that former offenders shouldn’t continue to be punished by the system, especially when it disproportionally affects minorities. It also prevents applicants from contributing and reintegrating into society and reducing dependency on social services. Those who disagree and say that screening a job applicant’s criminal history is important, argue that employers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their business, employees, and customers and make informed hiring decisions. Without early screening, some recent studies show that employers might unconsciously resort to biased assumptions or stereotypes when evaluating candidates. With this context, we debate Ban the Box: Should We Banish the Criminal History Check Box from Job Applications?
    
    Friday, April 19, 2024
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There’s No Debate

19 September 2016

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

John Donvan of ABC News, moderator of public broadcasting’s excellent Open to Debate formerly known as Intelligence Squared U.S. debates, has been making the media rounds urging that the debate format be changed to Oxford rules to formally argue resolutions like “Resolved: The United States Should Withdraw from NATO,” in which the candidates would make brief opening and closing statements and in the time remaining question one another about the issue at hand, under strict time guidelines At Change.org, 60,000 have signed a petition urging this be done. You have to wonder what would happen if those 60,000 and more turned up outside the first debate at Hofstra University on Sept. 26, exercising their constitutional right of assembly and demanding, not just urging, this better way.

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