Criminal Records

Featured

For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 3, Bettie Kirkland

August 6, 2018

Bettie Kirkland, the executive director of Project Return in Nashville, joins For the Record to discuss her organization’s work connecting hundreds of people who have criminal records to employment each year and reflects on what it means to ensure they have a chance at success.

For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 2, Esta Bigler

June 4, 2018

Esta Bigler, the director of the Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School's Labor and Employment Law program, joins For the Record to discuss her work regarding record clearance as a lawyer, which has ranged from creating educational programming to working on a groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court case.

Strategies to Engage Employers in Conversations about Hiring Applicants with Criminal Records

May 30, 2018

This tip sheet offers suggestions on how organizations and agencies that provide support to people who have criminal records can engage employers in conversations about hiring people who have criminal records, which will help improve the employment outcomes of the people they serve.

Clearing a Path, from Conviction to Employment

Access to employment is a critical component of the support that research says helps keep people from returning to the criminal justice system, as a steady job provides financial resources and social connections that build motivation.

HUD Says Denying Rentals to People with Criminal Records May Violate Fair Housing Act

In cases where a policy disproportionately restricted housing for a minority population, even if none was intended, the burden is on the housing provider to justify the policy as necessary for a “substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest.”

NRRC Projects

Reentry and Employment

Uniting business leaders, policymakers, and practitioners from the corrections and workforce development fields with the goal of improving reentry and employment outcomes for individuals with criminal histories.

Key Resources

Clean Slate Clearinghouse

CSG Justice Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, the National Juvenile Defender Center, the National Association of Counties, and the National League of Cities

This website provides people with criminal records, legal service providers, and state policymakers with information on juvenile and adult criminal record clearance policies in all U.S. states and territories.

National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction

CSG Justice Center

This website provides a searchable database of the collateral consequences in all U.S. Jurisdictions.

The Federal Interagency Reentry Council: A Record of Progress and a Roadmap for the Future

The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice

The Federal Interagency Reentry Council (The Council) has been working since 2011 to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes related to employment, education, housing, health, and child welfare for people involved with the criminal justice system. This report provides a review of The Council’s accomplishments and a roadmap for its future.

Criminal Records

Featured

For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 3, Bettie Kirkland

For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 2, Esta Bigler

Strategies to Engage Employers in Conversations about Hiring Applicants with Criminal Records

Clearing a Path, from Conviction to Employment

HUD Says Denying Rentals to People with Criminal Records May Violate Fair Housing Act

NRRC Projects

Reentry and Employment

Key Resources

Clean Slate Clearinghouse

National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction

The Federal Interagency Reentry Council: A Record of Progress and a Roadmap for the Future

Webinars

Addressing Barriers to Occupational Licensing for People Who Have Criminal Records

Empowering People with Criminal Records to Change Policy: A Legal Advocate’s Guide to Storytelling

The Clean Slate Model–Sealing Criminal Records through Automated Computer Queries

Transformative Practices–Promoting Access to Expungement

Criminal Record Clearance and the Clean Slate Clearinghouse

Relevant Organizations

Collateral Consequences Resource Center

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia

Legal Action Center

National Employment Law Project

National Juvenile Defender Center