Time may pass slowly for convicted criminal offenders sentenced to live among the bare walls and discomforting feel of a state correctional facility, and while some may come out a changed person, some definitely do not.

Whether an ex-convict will offend again could largely depend on if that person can get his life back together by finding a job, but if employers refuse to hire people based solely on their criminal background, ex-convicts may not have another choice but to once again derail their lives and return to disrespecting the law.

But City Councilor Chuck Turner, of Roxbury, who is proposing a bill that would not allow the City of Boston to do business with potential employers who discriminate against job-seeking ex-convicts, seems unaware that most businesses have no legal access to a job applicant’s criminal record – with the exception of nursing homes, Little League groups and other human service agencies that cater to the young, the ill and the old. The proposed bill will have little practical value if the Council votes to pass it.

Perhaps Turner should consider looking more closely at the root of the problem – which lies in the state’s correctional facilities – rather than infringe on the rights of private businesses to hire who managers feel are best fit for the job.

The city simply should not provide certain businesses that could unjustly discriminate against job-seeking ex-convicts with access to the Criminal Offender Records Information database. Or the Council could limit what businesses are allowed to view when searching the database, such as by not including minor criminal offenses.

No employer should hire a lesser-qualified applicant who has no criminal record when a better-qualified applicant with a record has also applied. But whether a person’s criminal record could affect that person’s job qualification should only be dealt with on a case by case basis.

For example, a financial institution should have the right to know whether an applicant previously served time for a white-collar crime involving money laundering.

But no all-encompassing law can be equally fair to both ex-convicts and their potential employers.