L.A. COUNTY RECONSIDERING RESTRICTIONS ON CONVICTIONS.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

Los Angeles County officials are considering reducing the types of criminal convictions that have to be disclosed on county job applications in an effort to help rehabilitated convicts gain employment, according to a recently released report.

The county currently requires disclosure of all misdemeanor and felony convictions on initial employment applications.

But officials are considering exempting some categories including juvenile convictions that have been sealed or expunged and adult convictions that have been dismissed or pardoned, according to the report.

At a May hearing on the issue, advocates for loosening the county's application process cited studies that show that 70 percent to 90 percent of former prisoners are unemployed. They argued that these people should not continue to be punished after they have served their sentences.

The report will be used by the Board of Supervisors in making a decision on the issue.

``What I was getting at is that during the initial step there would be nothing on the application (that would require disclosure of convictions),'' said Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who requested the report in May.

``After the person has gone through the basics of applying for a job and being evaluated, at that point you would then ask them to disclose any criminal records. If they have one, it may be minute, or it might not apply in any way to the job they are applying for,'' she said.

Burke said a growing number of cities and counties are studying whether good applicants are being discouraged from applying because of fear of disclosing minor or old criminal convictions.

San Francisco and Boston recently moved to drop the requirement for applicants to disclose all criminal convictions.

Burke said the county's application process has a particular impact on minority communities where a disproportionately large number of men have been involved with the criminal justice system.

About 100,000 people are estimated to apply for county government jobs each year. The study reviewed more than 1,000 applications submitted for four entry-level county jobs to try to determine whether qualified applicants are being disqualified for divulging criminal convictions.

Of 240 applications for grounds maintenance jobs -- mainly involving welfare-to-work participants -- 51 percent indicated they had criminal convictions. Out of those, seven were hired, the study found.

Of 313 applications for intermediate clerk jobs, 4 percent indicated they had criminal convictions and one is now eligible to be hired, it found.

Out of 188 applications for administrative aide positions, 4 percent indicated they had criminal convictions and one is eligible to be hired.

And out of 291 applications for animal-shelter aide positions, 16 percent indicated they had criminal convictions with none hired.

Still, county officials who wrote the report recommended that the county continue to ask applicants to disclose both misdemeanor and felony convictions.

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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