TRAVIS COUNTY
County takes crime question off job applications
Officials say some jobs will require criminal history check later in process.
By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Travis County Commissioners voted today to remove the question from county job applications that asks about criminal history.

That question will be asked later in the application process for jobs unsuitable for people with a criminal past such as handling county funds or records in what the commissioners and some public safety officials said was a step to help make Travis County safer.

Rest of article.

[OK, I'd like to hear any theories out there on how this will make the world a safer place.]

[This message was edited by Shannon Edmonds on 04-23-08 at .]

Sometimes bitter members of the public get tired of clinging to their religion, guns, or banjoes, and they decide the might like one of them cushy county jobs like some people who post here have. They don't get the job because of that pesky "box" on the application, and they find they must return to their bitterness and cook meth, beat their wife, or even found a religious sect that favors compound living and polygamy with underage brides. All this when they could have skipped the "box" on the application and been happily auditing the county's books.

Employment is often cited as a key factor in keeping people who have been convicted of a crime from committing another.

It will be entertaining to see what happens the first time someone hired without a background check is in a secured area (DA's office / Clerk's office / Judicial Chambers) as a member of the building and grounds staff.

Great! He's not dangerous, he's on probation for Fradulent Use of Identifying Information but he wasn't revoked because he just had 'technicals'.