--- title: Hillary Clinton to Propose "Banning the Box" as Part of Criminal Justice Reform description: Hillary Clinton would take executive action as president to bar the federal government from asking about applicants' criminal histories canonical: https://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-30T18:39:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:57.353Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Federal Job Applicants to Be Asked About Criminal History og:description: She hopes to ease offenders' reintegration into society by not asking about their status in the first application phase og:url: https://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt824818d1f45fa050/69886efa524fc09b8edf5460/hillary-clinton12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Presidential Candidates Speak At Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Federal Job Applicants to Be Asked About Criminal History twitter:description: She hopes to ease offenders' reintegration into society by not asking about their status in the first application phase twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt824818d1f45fa050/69886efa524fc09b8edf5460/hillary-clinton12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Federal Job Applicants to Be Asked About Criminal History > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Oct 30, 2015 6:39 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton speaks at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, IO on Oct. 24, 2015. Hillary Clinton speaks at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, IO on Oct. 24, 2015. Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Oct 30, 2015 6:39 PM UTC Hillary Clinton would take executive action as president to bar the federal government from asking about applicants’ criminal histories, according to a campaign aide, a move aimed at easing offenders’ reintegration into society. Clinton’s executive action, which would also block federal contractors from inquiring about criminal history, would apply to the initial application phase and require that agencies that complete background checks to do so only later in the process. The measure is known as “banning the box,” a reference to the box on job applications that asks for applicants’ criminal histories. Clinton’s plan is not revolutionary: Nineteen states, including California, Colorado and Georgia have passed “ban the box” laws, according to the National Employment Law Project. Some large employers including Walmart and Starbucks have done so as well. The Democratic frontrunner will make the announcement at a rally in Atlanta on Friday afternoon as part of her ongoing plans to reform the criminal justice system. Clinton has put criminal justice reform at the center of her campaign, calling for an end to “the era of mass incarceration.” Her campaign also previewed a plan on Friday to end the drug sentencing disparity and ban racial profiling, and Clinton called earlier this spring for body cameras on police officers. “Banning the box” is one part of Clinton’s “criminal justice reform agenda to be rolled out in the coming days, which will focus on policing, incarceration and reentry into society,” the aide said. **Read more**:[_Hillary Clinton to Propose New Criminal Justice Reform Plans_](http://Hillary Clinton to Propose New Criminal Justice Reform Plans) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Federal Job Applicants to Be Asked About Criminal History","datePublished":"2015-10-30T18:39:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:57.353Z","description":"She hopes to ease offenders' reintegration into society by not asking about their status in the first application phase","url":"https://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt824818d1f45fa050/69886efa524fc09b8edf5460/hillary-clinton12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt824818d1f45fa050/69886efa524fc09b8edf5460/hillary-clinton12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential Candidates Speak At Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner","caption":"Presidential Candidates Speak At Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner","creditText":"Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4094715/hillary-clinton-criminal-history-reform/","name":"Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Federal Job Applicants to Be Asked About Criminal History"}}]}] ```