WHY "BAN THE BOX" HURTS BLACK MEN.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Civil rights campaign to remove criminal history disclosure checkbox in job application forms - Brief article

There are nine states that make it illegal for an employer to ask applicants about their criminal history on job applications. That number is expected to grow as the "Ban the Box" movement is taking hold across the country. However, research shows that this could do great harm to the very people it is meant to protect.

"Researchers found that, when Ban the Box went into effect in certain cities, applicants with traditional African-American names were four times less likely to get a call-back when the criminal background questions were removed," notes Rob Wilson, president of Employco USA, Westmont, III.

"Presumably, in lieu of the ability to weed out applicants with a criminal history, employers instead practiced racial discrimination, such as 'A person named Tyrell probably has more chance of having a criminal background...