Hi guys, I responded to a post on stigma and unemployment and found it interesting so I decided to look alittle further into it. The first thing that came to my mind when trying to relate it to our crime/punishment class was the obvious stigma that comes with being a criminal or ex-criminal. If you think about it, most of the major social-institutions people encounter want to know if you’ve committed a crime. Schools, work, the army, all have typical applications asking you if you have every been convicted of a crime and some even ask if you have ever been arrested! Because once you have, you are labeled. With this label can come an unavoidable stigma; or as Goffman would say, “an attribute that is deeply discrediting” and restricting.
I found this article that I thought was interesting and relevant. The article is pretty recent, and it talks about a request made to outlaw criminal background checks as a tool to screen job applicants because it presents a hiring barrier for minorities. The articles talks about that because hispanics and african americans have higher rates of crime involvement they subsequently suffer an unfair rate of discrimination and it presents a hiring barrier for them.
To me, this is obviously raciest but looking beyond race and more closely at the criminal part of it all I can understand why a potential employer would want to know if they are hiring a criminal or someone who has been involved with crime, but I’m not sure how I really feel about it. Having something on your record pretty much ‘defines you’ to someone who is just looking at you and your credentials on paper. There is the stigma that if you messed up once, your likely to mess up again. However, this isnt always true. I know someone I went to highschool with has a felony on his record from when he was 18 years old and was basically just at the wrong place at the wrong time and he will forever carry the stigma of being a criminal with him. Its hard for him to find a job, many of which are not even available to him anymore even if he wanted (the army, teacher, police officer, etc). I guess thats life but holding that stigma is definitely deeply discrediting and restricting.
