Grandma is not amused.

Last week the U.S Department of Health and Human Services released a report on the presence of convicted criminals within nursing home facilities. Some news outlets reacted with shock and fear that their aging loved ones might be in daily contact with someone who had been judged guilty by the court, or even (gasp!) spent time in jail. But for anyone who knows anything about incarceration rates, the report was far from surprising.

According to the Nursing Facilities’ Employment of Individuals with Criminal Convictions, about 92% of all nursing homes in the United States employ at least one person with a conviction on their record. About 5% of all nursing home employees had some conviction, the majority (84%) of which occurred prior to their beginning date of employment.

Nationally, there are no requirements for nursing homes to conduct background checks on prospective employees, though most states have instituted their own rules about this. Eight states have no requirements for background checks, though individual nursing homes can elect to conduct them independently. In most situations, a person’s criminal background only eliminates them from an applicant pool if their convictions are violent in nature and they are going to have contact with residents.

The safety of our elderly is a serious concern and I am not suggesting it isn’t. What made me bring this story to light isn’t the employment of convicts within nursing homes but more so the reaction to the study.

It reminded me of a story I covered last year regarding employees of a Tennessee school district. The employees were forced to reapply for their jobs when the state handed custodial personnel matters over to a private corporation. But because the state didn’t do background checks prior to 2002 and this new company did, many employees (nearly 10%) didn’t get their jobs back. These employees had been with the district since prior to the 2002 implementation of background checks without incident. Most of the convictions were for “minor” crimes like DUI and drug possession.

Am I saying we shouldn’t do background checks? No, merely that we shouldn’t be surprised at the number of people with criminal backgrounds. Nor should we think a criminal history automatically makes someone a dangerous “bad guy”.

When you look at the statistics, there’s a very high likelihood that you know some ex-convicts and current probationers. You might work alongside them or your kids might play together. The overcriminalization of the United States population has made it impossible to go through life without being in contact with clients of the criminal justice system and even unlikely to find yourself in a family that doesn’t have someone under the supervision of the courts at some point.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2009 (the latest year that data is available), 3.1% of all United States residents were under correctional supervision. This includes probation, jail, prison, and parole. And this number, 3.1% or 1 in 32 adults, applies only to those currently under supervision, not those who merely have a “criminal history” or past conviction.  The number of people who have a record has been estimated to be about 1 in 6, or 17%.

When you consider that 17% of adults in the United States have a criminal record of some sort, it kind of puts things in perspective. If 5% of nursing home workers have a criminal record, the nursing homes are doing a fairly good job of keeping such people out of their ranks even without criminal background checks.

When you live in the most incarcerated country in the entire world, it’s shouldn’t be surprising to find out your friendly neighbor is a former inmate or at the very least, someone with a criminal record. We’ve created it this way and can’t really be shocked to find criminals in our midst. What might be more shocking is that “these people” are as normal as you and I (normal, of course being relative). So when the news reveals a new “shocking” study that 95% of Walmart employees are convicted marijuana users (jokes, people), please don’t be shocked and don’t treat the employees of Walmart with any more disdain than you already do.

© 2011, Elizabeth Renter. All rights reserved.