New Haven rids of felony check box

New Haven (WTNH) - The city of New Haven is no longer asking those applying for jobs if they've been convicted of a crime. A new move called 'banning the box' will rid of the check box asking applicants if they have been convicted of a felony.

The Board of Aldermen will consider expanding it to require vendors, doing business with the city, to also remove the box. While New Haven will continue to run a background check on potential employees, it says removing the box will give the 5,000 ex-offenders living in the city a better chance of getting a job.

"As far as safety goes, these folks are with us. They are part of our community. So they can either be with us and be constructively-employed, or they can be with us and walking around the street with nothing," President of the Board of Alderman, Carl Goldfield, said.

"There is a stigma when [one] writes down 'Yes I've been convicted of felony.' It creates a stigma," Tirzah Kemp, of the Strive Training Program, said. So, what the ban to the box does [is] it erases the artificial barriers."

This change does not include jobs in the school system or with the Board of Education.

Earlier this month, Norwich became the first city in the state to remove the question 'are you a convicted felon?' from its job applications.