Kansas City law will protect formerly incarcerated people from discrimination | Opinion
It’s official: Kansas City made it illegal to discriminate against people with a criminal history. I saw no reason why it shouldn’t.
On Thursday, the City Council was expected to vote on an ordinance that would add — much like people of color or members of the LGBTQ community — formerly incarcerated individuals to its protected class. The ordinance was sponsored by Third District Councilwoman Melissa Robinson and mirrors similar legislation enacted in the city of Atlanta.
Here, the proposal passed this week out of a public safety committee by a 4-0 vote. The full Council approved the measure 9-3. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas was not present.
After sitting in on the committee meeting and listening to public testimony from a previous hearing, I would have been surprised if the full City Council rejected the measure.
Why would it?
Reintegrating back into society is hard enough for formerly incarcerated individuals, countless studies have found. Even those with misdemeanor arrest records are at risk of being denied job and housing opportunities based solely on their criminal history. That should no longer be the case here or elsewhere.
Folks often turn back to a life of crime when they can’t find a legitimate source of income or a place to live, studies show.
According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, 69% percent of convicted felons return to prison if they are not gainfully employed within two years. For those who do find full-time work, the recidivism rate is just 23%.
By approving the ordinance, Kansas City alleviated some of these barriers to a good job or stable housing.
In a committee meeting on Jan. 7, Robinson quoted slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. when introducing the proposed ordinance.
“The arc of the (moral) universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” Robinson said. Amen to that.
Thomas James is a local minister and lead organizer for transformational justice at the Metropolitan Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, a social justice group known as More2. He said he worked with Robinson and other city staff on the ordinance.
Last week, James presented to the committee data from a study conducted by the Sentencing Project that showed between 70 to 100 million people in our country have a criminal history. He repeated those numbers to me Tuesday at City Hall.
“Which equates to 1 in every 3 adults in the United States has some criminal history,” James said.
Another minister, Stephen Jones of First Baptist Church of Kansas City, also spoke in favor of the proposal. He said it was morally imperative that Kansas City approves this ordinance.
“We really need to fully open the doors of opportunity to people that have a criminal history,” Jones said.
A third minister, Cortez Lewis of Lean on Me Ministries in Kansas City, said he operates at least seven transitional homes for former prisoners. Time and time again he said he sees former prisoners turned away from jobs that could help them regain solid footing.
“We are certainly in a dilemma,” Lewis said.
Back to Robinson, councilwoman for Kansas City’s 3rd Council District. She worked with other members of the public safety committee, the city’s law department and Lucas’ office to amend her original proposal. What the Council was scheduled to hear on Thursday included added safeguards that would protect children and victims of domestic violence.
For example, convicted child abusers could not allege discrimination if they were turned away from a job at a child care facility. Same with a domestic abuser trying to work at the same place as their victim. These changes were reasonable and necessary.
The decision by the Kansas City Council to protect the rights of those that need second chance opportunities to live a life free from crime and poverty was a good one.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 5:06 AM.
