Cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and even New Orleans have joined the "ban the box" movement. This means banning the question on city job applications that asks about applicants' criminal history. Metro Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle wants Baton Rouge to follow suit.
Ann Marie Awad: So tell me about this initiative you're trying to start.
C. Denise Marcelle: I learned more about ban the box while attending National League of Cities. I was part of NBCLEO - the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials - and it was a movement on a national level. When I began to research about ban the box, I found that when they remove the box off the application, it did several things. It increased the pool of qualified applicants, it allowed people the ability to get to the table to actually have an interview done. And so I started to research and I thought it was a be a great thing for Baton Rouge.
AA: There's still criminal background checks in place during hiring process for city jobs, is that right?
CDM: Absolutely, it does not stop us from checking - doing the criminal background check, and in fact we do that once we get to the pool of people that we think they should have the job based upon their qualifications. What ban the box does is eliminate them from being in the stack once you see all that they are a felon. When that box is checked, a lot of times - not everyone -will put that application to the side they don't get to come to the to the table at all to explain what happened, how long ago this happened, or anything because they're put in a certain stack and they're not looked at as a qualified applicant. I believe that a lot of people who have done their time served their time for whatever reason - maybe it was when they were younger, they've changed their lives - they should be given the opportunity to come back and be a productive citizen. How do we do that if we are allowing them to be eliminated in the first place?
AA: I've heard you say in other interviews about this issue, about ban the box, that your inspiration came from domestic violence victims.
CDM: Absolutely. I know a number of people - first of all, I'm a victim of domestic violence. That gives me a little bit [of] insight on how things happen with the people in domestic violence situations. However, I was never charged with anything because I did not get the opportunity to fight back when I was stabbed. But I've seen women that have been charged for a lack of not filing a complaint - they had been jumped on repeatedly numerous times by their husbands, or boyfriends, or significant others or whatever - and at some point they got tired of getting jumped on and beat up and they struck back. Maybe they stabbed them, maybe they even killed them. They served their time or they did whatever the sentence was and it becomes a felon[y] on their record and then they cannot get out.
"They should be given the opportunity to come back and be a productive citizen. How do we do that if we are allowing them to be eliminated in the first place?"
AA: Now you were just recently elected to the legislature so you'll be leaving the Metro Council in January, and this is going to be your last accomplishment as a Metro Councilperson here in Baton Rouge.
CDM: I certainly hope it's an accomplishment, that is certainly my goal.
AA: So now when you join the legislature in January, is this something you plan on bringing up at a state level?
CDM: I'm certainly going to look at it on a state level. Haven't gotten there yet, I don't like to look at things prior to me getting into the seat. There's a lot of issues that we face in the state, and I certainly want to address to budget first and make sure that we can clear up the deficit and I know that's going to be tough.
AA: So when do you think you'll have this in front of the whole council?
CDM: It will be in front of the next council at our next council meeting which is the second Wednesday in the month, and so the second Wednesday of the month we'll be discussing it.
AA: Next week.
CDM: Correct.