Maybe not as much as you would expect. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the use of criminal history may sometimes violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There is also a growing campaign known as Ban the Box that is convincing states to pass laws that push back background checks into later in the hiring process and remove the question about past criminal convictions on job applications. You can read more about Ban the Box and criminal records in general at our Criminal Records page.