With each criminal conviction the state of Connecticut matter-of-factly tells defendants how long they will spend behind bars. Hidden from view is a long list of additional penalties attached to these convictions.
Only upon leaving prison do offenders experience how these “collateral consequences” limit or deny their basic rights to housing, food stamps, education, voting, employment, child custody, and more.
A 2018 study conducted by the Prison Policy Initiative found that “formally incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of over 27 percent.” The study concludes: “A prison sentence should not be a perpetual punishment. States should implement automation record expungement procedures and reform their licensing practices so as to eliminate the automatic rejection of people with felony convictions.”
The stigma of incarceration and disconnection from the workforce, according to a Council of State Governments report, “are among the challenges people face when trying to find a job after release from prison or jail. People who have been incarcerated earn 40 percent less annually than they had earned prior to incarceration.”
Researchers at the Council of State Governments have prepared a list of 594 separate “collateral consequences” in Connecticut statutes and regulations waiting to snare persons convicted of a crime. Some consequences kick-in automatically. Others are applied on a case-by-case basis. Some have a set duration; others are indefinite.
The penalties are as varied as being denied licenses to for taxicab businesses or to operate a commercial motor vehicle to being denied applications for rental of public housing units.
Because “One out of five working Americans needs a license to work while one in three American adults has a criminal record,” the Institute for Justice encourages state lawmakers to repeal needless licenses, scale back anti-competitive licensing laws, and strengthen the rights of people with a criminal record to gain meaningful employment.
To do so, the institute has prepared model legislation titled “Collateral Consequences in Occupational Licensing Act.” And to date, at least 18 states, including Connecticut, have reformed their occupational licensing laws to reduce entry barriers for those with a criminal record.
According to Collateral Consequences Resource Center’s Restoration of Rights Project, a nonprofit organization that tracks legal restrictions on people with a criminal record, Connecticut has taken steps to remove employment barriers for ex-offenders.
• Public employers and licensing authorities, with limited exceptions, may not disqualify an applicant automatically on grounds of a prior conviction.
• Private employers may not deny employment solely on basis of conviction of the applicant has been provisionally pardoned or has been granted a certificate of rehabilitation.
• Statewide, public and private employers, with some exceptions, may not inquire into an applicant’s criminal history on the initial application.
When state legislatures erect legal barriers that make life after prison difficult, if not impossible, they are setting people with a criminal record up for failure and a trip back to prison.
Ex-offenders have a personal responsibility to make the lifestyle changes needed to successfully re-enter society.
Legislators also have a responsibility to give wrong-doers the opportunity to make these changes and to become productive, law-abiding citizens.
Ronald Fraser writes on public policy issued for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization.
This article first appeared here: www.journalinquirer.com
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