The Use of Criminal History Information in College Admissions Decisions

To understand the potential public health and social justice implications of criminal background screening on college admissions, we examined postsecondary institutions’ reasons for collecting or not collecting applicants’ criminal justice information. We invited heads of admissions from 300 randomly sampled postsecondary institutions to complete an online survey between November 2010 and January 2011. We linked survey data to publicly available institutional data. Sixty-one percent of institutions collected criminal justice information. Respondents cited many reasons for obtaining this information with reducing violence most frequently cited as “very important.” Thirty-five percent of institutions denied admission or enrollment in fall 2010 to at least one individual based on criminal history. Institutions that collect criminal history information expressed greater reluctance to admit applicants with criminal histories and a higher proportion reported having denied admission based on criminal history. The results raise several concerns about how criminal history information is being used in college admissions.