Collateral Consequences for Individuals with Criminal Records – Study
What’s the Problem?
Most formerly incarcerated individuals know it will be an uphill battle to leave their criminal history behind and start fresh. While seldom said aloud, many formerly incarcerated individuals know the unspoken message: “once a criminal, always a criminal”. The unspoken words are the subtext to every unexplained denial of employment, to every unexplained reason for selecting another applicant for an apartment, to every unexplained occupational license not approved, to every unexplained loan not granted. That subliminal message over time can take a debilitating psychological toll on returning citizens and contribute to recidivism.
What’s the Proposal?
The Department of Planning – Collateral Consequences for Individuals with Criminal Records Study will examine, report on, and make recommendations relating to collateral consequences for individuals with criminal records, including the following areas:
- The right to vote;
- The right to hold public office;
- Restrictions on employment in certain professions and policies, practices, and statistics regarding private employers in the State in hiring individuals with criminal records;
- Restrictions on the ability to obtain certain business, occupational, and professional licenses, including a liquor license;
- Restrictions on the receipt of public assistance, including federal or state grants, federal cash assistance, food assistance, and public housing;
- Restrictions on international travel;
- The abrogation of certain parental rights; and
- Restrictions on jury duty service.
The Department of Planning will report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly on or before December 31, 2023.
Will this Work?
A criminal conviction is a present-day scarlet letter. Taking a closer look at how collateral consequences in the areas of voting, public office, employment, licensing, public assistance, travel, parental rights, and jury duty impact individuals with a criminal history is the right step, in the right direction, to achieve the right result. This study moves the conversation forward if recommendations and findings are translated into immediate, actionable, concrete next steps. When that happens, we (returning citizens, Marylanders, and Maryland’s economy) win.
Status of the Legislation
On February 1, 2023, HB 544 was introduced and read for the first time by Delegates Mireku-North, Bagnall, Crutchfield, Henson, Hill, Lopez, and Ruth. The House of Delegates referred the bill to the House Judiciary Committee for review.
Learn More!
Suggested reading on collateral consequences includes:
- A Report on the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions in Maryland. The Reentry of Ex-Offenders Clinic, University of Maryland Law School (Spring 2007). Collateral Consequences Report1 2007 Update-a.doc (prisonpolicy.org)
- Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions Judicial Bench Book (ojp.gov), Am. Bar Ass’n (March 2018).
- After Prison: Roadblocks to Reentry, A Report on State Legal Barriers Facing People with Criminal Convictions, Legal Action Center (2004).
- Margaret Colgate Love, Jenny Roberts & Cecelia M. Klingele, Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: Law, Policy and Practice (NACDL/West 2012).
- Think Before you Plead: Juvenile Collateral Consequences in the United States, Am. Bar Ass’n Criminal Justice Section.
Many other resources can be found at: https://www.ma4jr.org/returning-citizens/
