TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Suzanne Craig Robertson on Oct 2, 2014

Has the U.S. justice system contributed to the nation's unemployment problems? Survey data from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers suggests that more than half of released ex-offenders remain unemployed up to a year after their release from custody. Nearly 65 million Americans have a criminal record, and this carries with it potential mandatory restrictions on jobs, housing, education and public assistance. The federal government and every state imposes some sort of “collateral consequence” to arrests or convictions. Some of these restrictions make sense -- but some may not, The Daily Herald reports in a Washington Post story.