A community group has called on the government to strengthen anti-discrimination protection for former convicts, who often face difficulty in finding jobs.
The call came as a survey by the Society for Community Organisation revealed that nearly 85 per cent of the 78 former inmates questioned said prospective employers had asked about their criminal records during interviews.
Fifty-five respondents, or more than 70 per cent, said they had been discriminated against while applying for jobs or at work - either by not being given a job or by not being trusted by bosses. Some had been fired because of their criminal records, the survey found.
'This is a high level of discrimination because not all job [applications] require the disclosure of one's criminal record,' the organisation's community organiser, Ng Wai-tung, said yesterday. 'It's not relevant whether one has a criminal record when he is applying for jobs that require physical energy such as a cleaner, waiter or transport worker.'
Because of such discrimination, nearly 40 per cent of the respondents said they felt they had been treated unfairly, the results showed, while almost 7 per cent said they felt hopeless.
About 8 per cent said they felt abandoned by society, and 7 per cent said discrimination made them want to commit crimes.
