How Criminal Records Misrepresent Black Women Survivors of Domestic Violence in Employment Background Checks

Yanni Pettis

Any criminal history makes it extremely difficult for an individual to obtain a job because employers often assume that a past charge reflects a person's character or reliability. Instead of evaluating the full context of the incident, hiring teams tend to rely on the record alone, which leads to quick judgments about the applicant's worthiness or professionalism. In contemporary society, securing employment is already challenging for many women, and even more so for women of color, who are often overlooked, underestimated, or treated as if entering certain fields is a privilege rather than a right. These barriers are even harsher for Black women, who face higher rates of employment discrimination that ultimately contribute to housing instability and long-term hardship. [1]

It is crucial to understand that the effects of unemployment extend far beyond the hunt for employment. The barriers that appear while attempting to get hired directly shape access to housing, credit, and long-term stability, especially for Black women who already face disproportionate rates of eviction and economic insecurity. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence's Housing Project, affordable housing is beneficial for stability in regards to supporting their families and having a consistent place to go home to; however it also poses an immediate threat to domestic violence survivors' safety. As they note, “Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women and children in the United States and a lack of affordable housing options is regularly reported by survivors as a primary barrier to escaping abuse.” [2] This reality demonstrates the difficult circumstances many domestic violence victims, oftentimes women of color, face when attempting to achieve independence from their abusers.

It is also important to acknowledge that stability can go beyond housing, but victims of domestic violence do not have a community or have a skewed perception of love due to the physical and mental abuse in their personal circle. It is difficult to create a safe place for any person of color and the difficulty increases when a criminal record is attached to it.

To further analyze how racial factors contribute to the hardships surrounding criminal records on victims of domestic violence, research from the Open Society Foundations shows that racial disparities in the criminal legal system share long-term consequences people face after an arrest or a conviction. Open Society Foundations reiterated the barriers that Black individuals face in society and how the stereotypes and systemic bias influence outcomes at every stage of the process, from charging decision to sentencing. They explain, “Black are more likely to be disadvantaged in terms of the decision to incarcerate.” [3] The disparities matter because longer sentences and higher incarceration rates increase the likelihood of having a criminal record, which limits access to employment and housing, barriers that fall especially hard on Black women and survivors of domestic violence.

While racial disparities shape who is more likely to receive a criminal record, it is equally important to understand how records misrepresent and stereotype survivors of domestic violence.

The research performed by the Battered Women's Justice Project (BWJP) was crucial in order to display the ways in which survivors, especially women of color, are mislabeled, misidentified, and automatically criminalized during police questioning and the court process. BWJP highlights how survivors are often arrested for actions taken in self-defense or in an effort to protect their children and loved ones. It places those individuals in an extreme predicament and ultimatum between their own livelihood in hopes of freedom, peace, and prosperity or gain a criminal record that strengthens social stigma and long-term harm. [4] The concept is especially relevant for understanding the experiences of women who are statistically more likely to be domestic violence survivors and more likely to be pushed into fight-or-flight responses that are later misinterpreted as aggression or being the initiator. Once these incidents are recorded as criminal charges, survivors face significant barriers in employment, as background checks rarely include context and instead present a distorted narrative that undermines their opportunities for stability and economic security.

Furthermore, the Center for Court Innovation- Understanding the Needs of Criminalized Survivors also aligns with the argument that Black women survivors are disproportionately criminalized in regards to the legal system, including insightful statistics in order to physically see the misrepresentation in numeric form. For instance, the source shared that, “Black women are overrepresented in the justice system, making up 30% of the prison population but only 13% of the general population.” [5] The statistics show that Black women are disproportionately represented in prisons compared to their share of the population, reflecting how racial targeting and harmful presumption shape their criminalization.

In addition, the Center for Court Innovation reiterates that Black women have additional barriers of sustainable longevity on top of their identification as a Black woman. It states, “Criminalized Black women often face intersection issues that compound the violence they are experiencing. These issues include heightened economic and employment barriers to accessing health care and mental health series, among others.” [6] The acknowledgement of limited accessibility for human necessities for Black women shows that they already rejected the basic principles of livelihood and adding a criminal record would only enhance their difficulty of living life with fulfilment and obtaining all that life has to offer.

In conclusion, criminal records misrepresent survivors of domestic violence in employment background checks and this legal concern targets women, and more specifically Black women. The misrepresentation comes into play when survivors are immediately judged and ignored because of the color of their skin and police's decision to pick a side based upon the severity of injuries. The utilization of "Criminalized survivors" in Battered Women's Justice Project puts into perspective that even though countless survivors overcame something as traumatizing as domestic violence, they still are being equal to those who committed a crime based on free will and not self-defense.

It also puts survivors in a negative light when in reality they are protecting their loved one and fighting for their life. Until background check practices, policing responses, and employer policies account for the realities of domestic violence and the racialized patterns of criminalizations, survivors will continue to face barriers to safety and stability. Addressing an issue that is beyond a legality concern, but a moral question will ensure that equality is incorporated into the daily lives of Black women and eventually put into everyone in the world.

[1] Vera Institute of Justice, "The Impact of a Criminal Record on Employment and Housing," https://www.vera.org.

[2] National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), "Housing-NNEDV," https://nnedv.org/content/housing/.

[3] Open Society Foundations, https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org.

[4] Battered Women's Justice Project (BWJP), "Understanding Criminalized Survivors: How Domestic Violence Becomes Defendants," https://bwjp.org.

[5] Danielle Malagone, "Understanding the Needs of Criminalized Survivors," https://www.innovatingjustice.org.

[6] Malagone, "Understanding the Needs of Criminalized Survivors."