Collateral Consequences for Criminal Conviction Have Hit Unfair Proportions And Fail To Serve Society

• An estimated 1.4 million children have a parent in prison
• The number of Americans incarcerated in our prisons has quintupled over the past thirty years
• In America, as many as 100 million people have criminal records of some kind

Collateral Consequences are a result of criminal conviction, there are then legal “disabilities” imposed on individuals that may not have even been in jail or prison. There are longsuffering consequences taking a toll on society by creating social and economic barriers for individuals reentering society.

Thier criminal history has now colored vital aspects of thier lives and those they care for in adverse ways. We are crippling our country and our economy with out of control punishments that come with being someone convicted of a crime.

Opportunity is a concept that is Synonymous with America, particularly from anyone who immigrates to our great country, we all get an opportunity to succeed, we are all a part of the big Melting Pot right? Were all supposed to get a fair shake at the American dream, Ideally.

A staggering one in three Americans that are estimated to have some sort of criminal history by The Sentencing Project, how many lives have to be comprised and how much must our county pay needlessly before we DO something to turn our criminal justice system into a system that protects, rehabilitates and is an asset to our citizens, not a nail on their coffin.

As a people, we need to work, contribute to society

and today, states across the nation struggle with labor shortages, not surprising when estimated 60 percent of employers run pre employment criminal history checks and deny those with a record, a job.

Worse, these background checks are far from concrete often missing important convictions and detailing crimes a person was only charged with, not convicted, casting an unfair bias on a persons name. We can do better than that by our nations workers, we owe it to our now weakened labor forces, we need to eradicate these weaknesses in our criminal judicial system and economy.

Sadly, when we think of someone “paying their debit to society” we don’t always grasp the full picture and the collateral consequences of criminal consequences go deeper and more crippling than many imagine. Up to 171 different consequences are then bound to the convict, indefinitely. Labeling and condemning them to a life of struggle to overcome, unfortunately recidivism rated continue to climb and any one with a criminal record has many challenges to face as it is.

Infographic by Moxie Faye 2022

With a criminal record you are usually denied a majority of offered government benefits such as housing, food stamps, schooling grants and some states ban offenders for a lifetime from T.A.N.F. Benefits, that give our most poverty stricken citizens with families, access to support and funds to get them working or equip their children with school supplies. Why punish needy children?

Were not talking about revoking WiFi privileges or creature comforts, were talking about essentials that our citizens need in order to maintain self sufficiency or keep thier family under the same roof. Instead they are not even allowed to access the tools they need to succeed and then where do they go? Back to prison most likely. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What about those values?

I don’t think that when early Americans were building our justice system they intended for consequences to go beyond the time they were committed to serving. I don’t think that we intended to treat one third of our people like lower class citizens, unworthy of assistance and undeserving of the very basics that humanity and society has to offer. Unintended, sure. But that does nothing to change the duty we all now have to set this right. Stop making life for those who already have a disadvantage to begin with, impossible to navigate.

If you look at the collateral consequences of criminal convictions, it looks to me like we are doing a hell of a lot to prevent offenders from achieving ANY of those ideals set fourth by our founding fathers. Its wrong, its costing unnecessary suffering and America goes deeper into debit, needlessly.

I do see a light at the end of this nonsense, important people from all over are beginning to look at the Collateral Consequences for Criminal Convictions and I am proud to be a Coloradan where as soon as you have been convicted, you are eligible to apply for “Relief From Collateral Consequences, Expunging your criminal record, there are stipulations that are well thought out and logical and the process is fairly straightforward. Its a step in the right direction.

Not a perfect answer were not there yet ,but it IS a step in the right direction.

Do you know what your states stance on Collateral Consequences from Criminal Convictions are? Are they taking any strides to put common sense, compassion and American values back into our justice system?

Below I have linked a resource detailing the “Certificates Of Restoration By State”, thats where the next step begins, with our people, reaching out to thier local governments and letting our elected officials know that Relief for Collateral; Consequences for one out of every three of our citizen who has a criminal record, is important to us all, let them know that we care and we are ready to restore our people to all the rights every American should have.

Link to PDF: https://info.nicic.gov/virt/sites/info.nicic.gov.virt/files/Certificates%20of%20Restoration%20by%20State.pdf