Author: CCRC Staff

Editorial staff of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center

Marijuana reformers schedule National Expungement Week

Adam Vine of Cage-Free Cannabis & Cage-Free Repair has asked us to let visitors to our site know about a series of events this fall promoting expungement and other forms of relief from collateral consequences.  They are available to assist in plannig local events during National Expungement Week, including but not limited to events aimed at marijuana convictions: The 2nd Annual National Expungement Week (N.E.W.) will be held from September 21-28, 2019. Advocates and organizers, primarily from the cannabis equity and justice movement, will once again host events across the U.S. that provide free legal services to people with eligible convictions. Last year, N.E.W. featured 18 events in 15 cities across the U.S., and the event helped 298 people begin the process clearing their records, while 450 people received services of some kind. One of the defining features of N.E.W. is the attempt to provide as many wraparound services as possible, which can include voter registration, employment advice, housing assistance, and other services that help people re-engage with their communities. N.E.W. is not focused exclusively on cannabis convictions in states that have legalized; some of our most successful events were held in states that criminalize marijuana possession. N.E.W. events welcome people with any convictions in any state that are eligible […]

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CCRC opposes rule requiring federal job seekers to disclose some non-conviction records

In March, we described a proposed federal rule that would expand the types of criminal records that must be disclosed by applicants seeking federal jobs and contracting work.  Specifically, OPM proposes for the first time to require individuals applying for federal employment or contracts to disclose whether they have participated in pretrial diversion programs in the last 7 years.  Our letter commenting on OPM’s proposal (reprinted below) points out that diversion is increasingly favored by states as a means of encouraging rehabilitation, and that this goal is advanced by the promise of avoiding the disabling collateral consequences and stigma that follow conviction.  In treating diversions like convictions, the OPM proposal would subvert the many benefits of diversion that have encouraged their increased use by prosecutors in recent years, including allowing for positive community perceptions of the justice system. **Update (5/29/19): The federal government has withdrawn this proposal, as reported by the Washington Post. 

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Searchable on-line inventories of collateral consequences: How they operate and how they are maintained

There are currently only three on-line collections of collateral consequences, one national and two state-specific (Ohio and North Carolina).  All three can be searched and sorted, and all three are regularly updated, making them indispensable practice tools for lawyers and essential guides for advocates and people with a criminal record.  Each of these inventories is described below by the individuals who helped create them and now administer them.  They explain how the inventories were created and how they are maintained, and how they operate to inform and assist people interested in understanding the legal and regulatory restrictions that affect people with a criminal record, as well as the lawyers and other advocates who assist them. Note that the three inventories each deal differently with the problem of linking specific consequences with the crimes that trigger them.  Ohio’s CIVICC inventory has the greatest granularity, allowing searches by specific provision of the state criminal code.  North Carolina’s C-CAT inventory is somewhat less specific, linking specific collateral consequences with the “crime characteristics” that make the consequence applicable, including the type and degree of crime.  The national inventory (NICCC) is less specific still, stating triggering offenses for each consequence in terms of broad categories […]

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“Third-Class Citizenship” for people with a “violent” record

Professor Michael M. O’Hear of Marquette University Law School has an important new article titled “Third-Class Citizenship: The Escalating Legal Consequences of Committing a ‘Violent’ Crime.”  This marks the first effort to systematically study the full legal consequences of a “violent” criminal charge or conviction, including the collateral consequences that uniquely apply to violent crimes.  O’Hear documents the growing network of these consequences, noting that recent criminal justice reforms tend to exclude people with “violent” as well as “sexual” offenses from relief available to other individuals with criminal records. O’Hear canvasses the wide range and reach of legal definitions of what actually qualifies as a “violent” crime, concluding that many of these definitions “sweep in large numbers of offenses that lie outside core understandings of what constitutes violence.”  After this, the article provides a 50-state overview of the statutory consequences of a violent charge or conviction, and raises concerns about whether these consequences are proportional, provide fair notice, and promote public safety. The abstract of the article, to be published in a forthcoming issue of Northwestern University Law School’s Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, follows:

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Symposium on felony disenfranchisement set for Friday in Missouri

On Friday, April 12, a day-long symposium on felony disenfranchisement will be held at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.  The event, hosted by the Missouri Law Review and Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, is open to the public. Three panels of scholars will address: (1) the historical origins of conviction-based disenfranchisement and its consequences for democracy—featuring CCRC board member Gabriel “Jack” Chin, among other panelists; (2) felony disenfranchisement, voting rights, and elections; and (3) the democratic challenges of voting rights restoration.  Pamela S. Karlan will deliver the keynote. For further reference, see our 50-state comparison chart documenting the loss and restoration of voting rights across the country; Gabriel “Jack” Chin’s recent book review: “New book argues collateral consequences can’t be justified”; and our comment on Professor Beth Colgan’s article on how inability to pay economic sanctions associated with a criminal conviction results in continuing disenfranchisement nationwide.

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