In this article, we review the ethical and legal dilemmas regarding the admission of convicted felons and study the practices used by American schools of social work. An important finding is that schools that are proactively engaged in asking for and processing felony conviction information are also more ethically engaged.
Born, C.E. and D.J. Carroll ( 1988) ‘Ethics in Admissions’, Journal of Social Work Education24: 79-85.
2.
Cobb, N.H. ( 1994) ‘Court-recommended Guidelines for Managing Unethical Students and Working with University Lawyers’, Journal of Social Work Education30: 18-31.
3.
Cobb, N.H. and C. Jordan ( 1989) ‘Students with Questionable Values or Threatening Behavior: Precedent and Policy from Discipline to Dismissal’, Journal of Social Work Education25: 87-97.
4.
Cole, B.S. and R.G. Lewis ( 1993) ‘Gatekeeping through Termination of Unsuitable Social Work Students: Legal Issues and Guidelines’, Journal of Social Work Education29: 150-9.
5.
Davies, M.R. ( 2000) ‘Admissions to Higher Education: The Legal Issues Arising from Applicants with Criminal Convictions’, Education and the Law12(3): 143-64.
6.
Dunlap, K.M., H.C. Henley and M.W. Fraser ( 1998) ‘The Relationship between Admissions Criteria and Academic Performance in an MSW Program’, Journal of Social Work Education34: 455-62.
7.
Gibbs, P. ( 1994) ‘Gatekeeping Issues in BSW Programs’ , Journal of Social Work Education30: 63-74.
8.
Koerin, B. and J. Miller ( 1995) ‘Gate-keeping Policies: Terminating Students for Nonacademic Reasons’, Journal of Social Work Education31: 247-60.
9.
Leedy, G.M. and J.E. Smith ( 2004) ‘Felony Convictions and Program Admissions: Theoretical Perspectives to Guide Decision-making’, Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics2. Available online at: http://www.socialworker.com/jswve/content/view/16/34 (accessed 15 February 2009).
10.
Madoc-Jones, I., J. Bates, B. Facer and K. Roscoe ( 2007) ‘Students with Criminal Convictions: Policies and Practices in Social Work Education’, British Journal of Social Work37: 1387-1403.
11.
Magen, R.H. and J. Emerman ( 2000) ‘Should Convicted Felons be Denied Admission to a Social Work Education Program? Yes!’, Journal of Social Work Education36: 401-14.
12.
Miller, J. and B. Koerin ( 1998) ‘Can We Assess Suitability at Admission? A Review of MSW Application Procedures’, Journal of Social Work Education34: 437-53.
13.
Perry, R.W. ( 2004) ‘The Impact of Criminal Conviction Disclosure on the Self-reported Offending Profile of Social Work Students’, British Journal of Social Work34: 997-1008.
14.
Reamer, F.G. ( 2005) Social Work Values and Ethics. New York: Columbia University Press.
15.
Redden, E. ( 2007) ‘Criminals and Colleges on the Capital’ , Inside Higher Ed. (14 February). Available online at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/14/dc (accessed 7 March 2007).
16.
Reynolds, L.R. ( 2004) ‘Gatekeeping Prior to the Point of Entry’ , Advances in Social Work5: 18-31.
17.
Ruch, G. ( 2005) ‘Relationship-based Practice and Reflective Practice: Holistic Approaches to Contemporary Child Care Social Work’ , Child and Family Social Work10: 111-23.
18.
Scott, N. and S. Zeiger ( 2000) ‘Should Convicted Felons be Denied Admission to a Social Work Education Program? No!’, Journal of Social Work Education36: 401-14.
19.
Smith, J. ( 1999) ‘Prior Criminality and Employment of Social Workers with Substantial Access to Children: A Decision Board Analysis’ , British Journal of Social Work29: 49-68.
20.
Smith, J.M. and T. Thomas ( 2000) ‘Police Checks, Placement and Pedophiles’ , Journal of Practice Teaching in Health and Social Work3: 62-75.
21.
Wayne, R.H. ( 2004) ‘Legal Guidelines for Dismissing Students because of Poor Performance in the Field’, Journal of Social Work Education40: 403-14.