A checkered past won't bar you from holding a job ---- at least not in some Penn departments.
As a result of relatively decentralized hiring practices, University policy only requires that new hires in some divisions undergo a criminal background check as a prerequisite for employment.
The issue has came to the fore in recent weeks after an employee of the University City District -- the non-profit organization charged with cleaning the neighborhood and reducing crime -- was arrested while on the job.
Crew Warrenton was connected with at least three burglaries that occurred over the summer near campus. It turns out that the suspect, had an extensive criminal history -- including a burglary conviction that resulted in a sentence of five to 20 years in prison.
After his Aug. 28 arrest, UCD amended its policies so that all new workers are subject to background checks.
The situation has raised the question of whether employees near college campuses such as Penn's are examined carefully enough.
Several years ago, Penn implemented pre-employment criminal-history checks for certain positions within the University.
Vice President for Human Resources Jack Heuer said he is pleased with the current policies -- which were created in January 2001 in a more limited form.
Heuer said that Penn conducts background checks for all employees in divisions reporting to Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli. These divisions include the Office of Audit and Compliance, the Office of Budget and Management Analysis, Business Services, the Office of the Vice President for Finance, the Office of Investments, the Division of Human Resources, the Division of Public Safety and Information Systems and Computing.
"A negative finding does not [necessarily] preclude employment," Heuer said. "There has to be a job relationship."
If an employee were going to work in a dormitory, for instance, Human Resources would be particularly concerned with theft- or assault-related convictions.
In the event that a check uncovers a conviction, Heuer said, Human Resources, the general counsel and the Office of Audit and Compliance convene to consider the case. There is no blanket rule.
There is only one exception. The job application asks about prior convictions, and if an applicant is found via a background check to have falsified his or her answer, the person will not receive employment.
Human Resources performs hundreds of checks each year, Heuer said -- usually between 350 and 500.
Yet despite the number of checks performed, "We have [never] denied employment based on an adverse finding."
Heuer has a theory as to why this is so: The knowledge that there will be a background check, he believes, dissuades many with checkered pasts from applying in the first place.
Background checks raise some contentious ethical issues, however.
"If somebody has paid their debt to society and there has been a successful period of reentry," Director of the Master's in Criminology Program Laurie Robinson said, "we can't allow this to be a permanent black mark."
At the same time, she acknowledged, data demonstrate that a person who has previously been convicted of a crime is more likely to commit that offense than a person without such a history.
It is a balancing act, she believes, between ensuring student safety and allowing convicts to move on with their lives.
