Why Target Stopped Asking Job Applicants If They’ve Been Convicted of a Crime
Kissy Mason understands the importance of second chances. As she grew up in Minneapolis in the ’80s and ’90s, she watched her family members move in and out of prison and saw the discrimination they faced as a result.
“People in my family were being locked up, and then they were locked out of a right to live, a right to employment,” she said.
Mason decided early on that she wouldn’t follow in their footsteps and end up in the prison system. After moving around Minnesota, she returned to Minneapolis to earn her associate’s degree in criminal justice. But in 2006, a domestic argument got out of control and led to a conviction. Mason was offered probation—but her record was no longer clean.
Because of a background check that brought up the incident, she no longer qualified for low-income, or Section 8, housing and struggled to find employment. “At that time,” she said, “I had three children, and I was trying to provide for them.”
“Sometimes people bar you from jobs forever because of one incident, and I don’t think that’s fair,” Mason said. “People should be given another chance. It shouldn’t be one time and you’re out.”
