The Reentry and Consequences of Conviction section displays research reports and other materials from the Afterlives of Conviction team and from other DCC projects that intersect with these topics. This section explores the lasting consequences of criminalization and incarceration, especially through the discriminatory use of criminal records and related barriers to reentry, employment and education, and other civil and human rights. For additional information, please visit our Rescind U-M Criminal Records Policies campaign page.
Research Publications
Afterlives of Conviction Project Website aims to deepen understanding of the experience of living with a criminal record in the United States. In collaboration with organizations working to end criminal records exclusion, it identifies pivot points between academia and on-the-ground work and strives to make scholarly data and concepts available to organizers, educators, and policymakers in engaging and useful ways. The website hosts many different kinds of publications and resources, such as a 3-part ethnographic book series, a comic about the rise of criminal background screening, and a research digest annotating more than 100 scholarly sources in plain language for organizers. To learn more, please visit the project website.
Research Brief: “The Best Firefighting Jobs Require the EMT License.” This report by the Afterlives of Conviction team demonstrates how a California regulation prohibiting people with criminal records from access to the Emergency Medical Technician license and limits their ability to find employment in the best paid, most sought after firefighting positions in California.
Fact Sheet: Do Licensing Restrictions Make Sense? Designed by the Afterlives of Conviction team as a tool for challenging the legal barriers facing people with criminal records who seek to obtain an occupational license by demonstrating the lack of evidence justifying these restrictions.
