Page 68 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

66
for people with criminal histories . Governments are responding incrementally to this protestation by implementing measures to reduce discrimination and spawn fairer treatment toward people who have had brushes with the law .
Although arrests are ostensibly meant to protect the public, a large percentage of them have been for low-level misdemeanors, as much as 10 million a year . In the words of law professor Alexandra Natapoff: “If you ever enter the American criminal justice system, odds are it will be for a misdemeanor . They may be seen as small-time offenses, but collectively how we process misdemeanors represents an immense and influential public institution .”9 A significant portion of these charges are dismissed and many end up in a plea bargain with no jail time . With the latter, there is a criminal conviction nonetheless . A criminal record alone, even when it does not accompany jail time, poses a significant challenge to individuals already struggling to stay afloat . Indeed, people are denied jobs, turned down for housing, have credit applications rejected, and may even be denied public benefits or financial aid based on criminal records . One of the more chilling aspects of this discrimination is that the information relied upon is often inaccurate . Studies have determined that at least 30 percent of criminal history reports contained inaccuracies,10 with the U .S . Bureau of Justice Statistics referring to this problem as “the single most serious deficiency affecting the nation’s criminal history record information system .”11
For those who serve time incarcerated, the penalties are more pronounced . Prior to incarceration, these individuals most likely had low educational attainment and feeble ties to the labor market, with many unemployed at the time that they were arrested .12 Further, opportunities to access educational and vocational programs have shrunk, as jails and prisons have cut back drastically on rehabilitative programming: electrical, welding, carpentry, Adult Basic Education (“ABE”), GED, and much more .13 Even college prison programs, which have strong evidence of cost- savings and lower recidivism rates, have been severely curtailed because they appear soft on crime and a way to “coddle criminals .”14
As the price of housing is skyrocketing in many urban communities, it has become nearly impossible to identify safe and affordable housing, particularly supportive housing for people transitioning out of confinement .15 On a regular basis, landlords turn away applicants because of a criminal record, even when these denials violate state law .16 Public housing is usually off limits too .
9 Alexandra Natapoff, Why Misdemeanors Aren’t So Minor, slaTe, Apr. 27, 2012, http://www.slate.com/articles/ news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/04/misdemeanors_can_have_major_consequences_for_the_people_ charged_.html.
10 CUNY Investigative Team, The Rap-Sheet Trap: Mistaken Arrest Records Haunt Millions, ciTy limiTs.org, March 3, 2015, http://citylimits.org/2015/03/03/the-rap-sheet-trap-mistaken-arrest-records-haunt-millions/.
11 u.s. deparTmenT of JusTice, Bureau of JusTice sTaTisTics, use and managemenT of criminal hisTory record informaTion: a comprehensive reporT, 2001 updaTe, (revised 2001), available at http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/umchri01.pdf.
12 devah pager and Bruce wesTern, u.s. deparTmenT of JusTice, invesTigaTing prisoner reenTry: The impacT of convicTion sTaTus on The employmenT prospecTs of young men (Oct. 2009), available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/ grants/228584.pdf.
13 Jamie Lillis, Survey Summary: Education in U.S. Prisons—Part Two, 19 Corrections Compendium 10-16 (April 1994).
14 Jean Trounstine, The Battle to Bring Back Pell Grants for Prisoners, BosTon magazine, Mar. 4, 2013, http://www. bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/03/04/the-battle-to-bring-back-pell-grants-for-prisoners/.
15 corinne carey, human righTs waTch, no second chance: people wiTh criminal records denied access To puBlic housing (2004), available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/usa1104/usa1104.pdf.
16 Mireya Navarro, Lawsuit Says Rental Complex in Queens Excludes Ex-Offenders, n.y. Times, Oct. 30, 2014, http:// www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/nyregion/lawsuit-says-rental-complex-in-queens-excludes-ex-offenders.html?_r=0.
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality