Page 41 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

I. The Proliferation of Criminal Records and Collateral Consequences Post-Great Society
In 1964, 111 out of 100,000 United States residents were incarcerated in federal and state prisons .4 That year, 65 percent of the men and women admitted to U .S . prisons were White, while 33 percent were Black .5 In the subsequent fifty years, incarceration rates soared to historic levels . In 2013, 480 out of 100,000 U .S . residents were incarcerated in a state or federal prison .6 As of December 31, 2013, 37 percent of prisoners were Black, 32 percent were White, and 22 percent were Latino/a .7 According to a Washington Post analysis, the United States currently has more jails and prisons than colleges and universities, and, in the South, more people live in prison than on college campuses .8
The numbers of individuals with criminal records has also increased greatly over time . One-third of individuals in the United States are arrested by twenty-three years of age for a juvenile or adult offense that is not a minor traffic violation.9 For Black and Latino males, the arrest rates stand alone . Nearly 49 percent of Black males and nearly 44 percent of Latino males are arrested by twenty-three years of age, compared to nearly 38 percent of White males .10 Overall, estimates of the number of adults in the U .S . who have a criminal record range from 65 million to 100 million .11
As many scholars have detailed, criminal convictions bring with them a host of “collateral consequences .”12 These consequences are the legal penalties that attach to convictions but are imposed by agencies that rest outside of the criminal justice system . The consequences are wide- ranging and impact all aspects of life for the poor defendants who comprise the overwhelming majority of individuals who travel through the criminal justice system .
Below are some consequences, both formal and informal, that are specific to the Great Society programs . Unlike collateral consequences, informal consequences are not rooted in law, but
4 carol B. kadish, u.s. dep’T of JusTice, prisoners 1925-1981 2, tbl.1 (1982), available at http://www.bjs.gov/content/ pub/pdf/p2581.pdf.
5 paTrick a. langan, u.s. dep’T of JusTice, race of prisoners admiTTed To sTaTe and federal insTiTuTions, 1926-86 5, tbl.2 (1991), available at http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rpasfi2686.pdf.
6 e. anne carson, u.s. dep’T of JusTice, prisoners in 2013 1 (revised sepT. 30, 2014), available at http://www.bjs.gov/ content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf [hereinafter prisoners in 2013].
7 Id. at 8.
8 Christopher Ingraham, The U.S. Has More Jails Than Colleges. Here’s a Map of Where those Prisoners Live, wash posT wonkBlog (Jan. 6, 2015), http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/06/the-u-s-has-more- jails-than-colleges-heres-a-map-of-where-those-prisoners-live/.
9 Robert Brame et al., Cumulative Prevalence of Arrest from Ages 8 to 23 in a National Sample, 129 pediaTrics 21, 25 (2012).
10 Robert Brame et al., Demographic Patterns of Cumulative Arrest Prevalence by Ages 18 and 23, 60 crime & delinquency 471, 478 (2014).
11 See Bureau of JusTice sTaTisTics, u.s. dep’T of JusTice, survey of sTaTe criminal hisTory informaTion sysTems, 2012 14, tbl.1 (2014), available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/244563.pdf (100,596,300 individuals were listed in state criminal history files as of December 31, 2012); michelle naTividad rodriguez & maurice ensellem, The naTional employmenT law proJecT, 65 million “need noT apply”: The case for reforming criminal Background checks for employmenT 3 & n.2 (2011), available at http://www.nelp.org/page/-/65_Million_Need_Not_Apply.pdf?nocdn=1 (estimating that 65 million adults have a criminal record, which the authors consider to be a “conservative national estimate”).
12 For a detailed discussion of collateral consequences, see generally margareT colgaTe love eT al., collaTeral consequences of convicTions: law, policy and pracTice (2013).
Criminal Justice Reform
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