Reconnecting Americans to the Benefits of Work
Future reforms should therefore address these structural barriers to employment opportunities. As with occupational licensing reform more broadly, legal bans on hiring individuals with a criminal record or effective bans by occupational licensing boards could—depending on the nature of the occupation—either be removed entirely or revised to provide a safe, legal path to employment for eligible individuals. [165]
[165]. In many jurisdictions, occupational licensing boards often outright reject people with conviction records from obtaining required licenses for a range of occupations. See: Nila Bala, ”Let’s Start the Re-entry Process in Prisons,” R Street Institute, May 14, 2018, https://www.rstreet.org/2018/05/14/lets-start-the-re-entry-process-in-prisons/.
