False Criminalization and the Erosion of Community Equity

From the abstract:

“The ever-expanding yet increasingly amorphous nature of criminal records is a driver of inequity in America. Criminal records are a significant barrier to community participation. They impact whether you can vote or serve on a jury, where you can live, and if you can work. And as criminal records become more easily accessible (yet less readily verifiable) thanks to the internet, the barriers criminal records pose to broader community participation grow increasingly insurmountable.

While there are myriad problems with using criminal records to determine social worthiness, this Essay focuses on the fact that what “counts” as a criminal record is overly expansive and ever growing. Criminal records do not just consist of criminal convictions. They may include contacts with the criminal legal system more broadly, such as arrests. They may include government interactions that are not criminal at all, including what would normally fall under school discipline and contact with the family regulation system. The ever-growing definition of criminal records reflects society’s increasing tendency to turn what it perceives as deviant behavior into “crime” and then use those “crimes” to limit one’s ability to engage in full civic participation. Further compounding the issue, inaccuracies in criminal records abound in the digital age. And given the racialized nature of criminal law enforcement, it is easy to see how criminal records contribute to racial injustice.

Many harms flow from the increased use of criminal records. While one could focus on the harms posed to the individual laboring with a criminal record, this Essay thinks more broadly about the harms criminal records pose to families and communities, particularly communities of color. As this Essay explains, criminal records work to minimize collective power, deplete community wealth, and stymie community voice. Thus, this Essay concludes that limiting (if not eliminating) the use of criminal records in various decision-making processes is not just important for individual justice; it is a necessary prerequisite to community equity more broadly.”