No Bars: Unlocking the Economic Power of the Fomerly Incarcerated

For the 30 percent of U.S. adults with criminal records, attaining economic success after leaving prison relies on the ability to find good jobs, says a new paper released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Even those with minor offenses and those who have been arrested but not charged can encounter numerous barriers in their search for employment. Significant among the obstacles are occupational licensing requirements that bar those with criminal records from professions that otherwise might provide economic independence and positively impact the American economy.The study, "No Bars: Unlocking the Economic Power of the Formerly Incarcerated," summarizes recent research on employment of formerly incarcerated individuals, focusing on the disproportionate effect of occupational licensing requirements.Between 60 percent and 75 percent of the more than 600,000 Americans released from federal and state prisons each year are still unemployed one year after release. Those who have found jobs make less money than do individuals without criminal records."Hundreds of professions that require occupational licenses could provide paths to economic independence for those formerly incarcerated, except for the fact that their criminal histories alone may ban them from receiving licenses, even if their convictions had no relevancy to the job," said Emily Fetsch, research assistant at the Kauffman Foundation and author of the paper. "Removing these barriers would benefit the formerly incarcerated and their families, curb recidivism and boost the economy overall."High rates of incarceration affect people of color disproportionately. Compared to white men, black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated, and Hispanic men are 2.5 times more likely to be incarcerated."Licensing restrictions can block an important avenue to self-sufficiency," says Jason Wiens, policy director at the Kauffman Foundation. "Numerous options for reform exist."The effect of occupational licensing is a closing off of numerous low-skill (e.g., nail technician or barber) and high-skill (e.g., architect or geologist) jobs that could give formerly incarcerated individuals a means for supporting themselves and their families.The "No Bars" paper recommends these policy changes to remove unnecessary occupational licensing barriers to employment:Exclude people with criminal records from jobs that require occupational licenses only when their convictions are recent, relevant to the occupation and pose a public safety threat.Offer former inmates the opportunity to secure certificates of restoration or rehabilitation that would open the door to receiving occupational licenses.Prevent individuals who have been arrested for, but never convicted of, crimes from being disqualified from occupational licensing based solely on the arrest.Question the need for occupational licensing policy altogether, rather than simply considering its restructuring. When public health is not threatened, licensing could be replaced by certification or another lesser form of regulation.

Putting People at the Center: The Role of Lived Experience in Dismantling Collateral Consequences Caused by Incarceration

These are the slides for the webinar "Putting People at the Center: The Role of Lived Experience in Dismantling Collateral Consequences Caused by Incarceration" held August 1, 2017. The goal of this webinar was to acknowledge that policy and systems change is most authentic and impactful when it surfaces and is driven from lived experience. It also explored the ways in which organizations partner with and learn from people most impacted in their decision making and processes driving policy change in criminal justice reforms related to employment, housing, and other collateral consequences of incarceration.The group of panelists included Marlon Chamberlain with FORCE Organizer at the Community Renewal Society, Glenn E. Martin from JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), Michelle Natividad Rodriguezfrom the National Employment Law Project (NELP), and Quintin Williams with Heartland Alliance

Missouri Among States Pursuing Fair-Chance Hiring Reforms

The United States has the appalling distinction of leading the world with its incarceration rate, which is five times that of other countries. One in thirty-five U.S. adults is under some form of correctional supervision. The result is that seventy million people—nearly one in three U.S. adults—must endure the stigma of having an arrest or conviction record. Any contact with the criminal justice system, no matter how minor, can be a modern-day scarlet letter

American Families, Punished for Poverty: The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States

Criminalization takes a toll, not only on adults, but also on the growing numbers of families, children and unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. This issue of Making the Link reviews the increase in families, children and youth experiencing homelessness, describes the criminalization measures increasingly being enacted and enforced against homeless persons and the severe consequences of these measures, and provides policy recommendations

CRIMINAL LAW—DREAMING OF A DRUG WAR RECKONING

Day after day, government officials across the United States make public statements celebrating various “victories” in our never-ending War on Drugs. These shallow statements overlook the true cost of this “war” and perpetuate the binary idea that there will eventually be a winner and a loser. If we continue down the path of war, nobody wins. The following article assesses the impact of this war by imagining a public official having a moment of contrition and acknowledging the errors of our ways

Is America Becoming a Nation of Ex-Cons?

Recent rates of mass incarceration have become a concern, but those rates are only part of the challenge facing (and posed by) the American criminal justice system. An estimated 25% of the U.S. adult population already has a criminal record and, with new felony convictions churning out at a rate of a million per year, America is well on its way to becoming a nation of ex-cons. Already, the ex-offender class is the nation’s biggest law-defined, legally discriminated-against minority group, and it is growing. The adverse social implications of this trend remain unclear and the critical demographic tipping point is still uncertain, But whatever the details, this is surely not good path for the nation to be on

Working Toward Equality: Employment and Race in Buffalo

For all of the progress that our nation and our community have made toward equality, we remain plagued by severe racial disparities in many aspects of life. Perhaps none is more troubling or more important than inequality in employment. Access to a good job is, for most people, the key to a good life. Something is sorely amiss when the black and Hispanic unemployment rates in Erie County are more than twice those of whites, and when people of color are earning just over 70 cents for every dollar earned by whites