Collateral Consequences of Criminal Record: NACDL to Start Task Force

NACDL released today that they will be holding an inaugural hearing in Chicago, Ill. this Thursday and Friday to address the issue of the criminal record syndrome. It goes something like this: Potential Employer: Have you been convicted of a felony? Potential Applicant: Yes, as a juvenile. The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction are far reaching and NACDL proposes to address the issue starting this week in Chicago for two days of hearings from

Press Release(Oct. 17, 2011) – It has been reported that as many as one in four American adults have a criminal record, some 65 million people. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is a leading national voice calling attention to this matter of significant public concern -- the vast expansion in recent decades of the criminal law and its intended and unintended consequences in American society. In addition to its ongoing work in our courts, legislatures and the public square to combat the overcriminalization of conduct in U.S. society, NACDL is also focused on the consequences of conviction – specific legal barriers, generalized discrimination, and social stigma – which have likewise become more numerous and severe, more public, and more permanent. They affect jobs and licenses, housing, public benefits, judicial rights, parental rights, interstate travel, and even volunteer opportunities. To this end, NACDL recently established the national Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction to undertake an inquiry into how legal mechanisms for relief from the collateral consequences of conviction are actually working, in state and federal systems, and develop comprehensive proposals for reform. The co-Chairs of the Task Force are attorneys Rick Jones of New York City and Vicki Young of San Francisco. The Task Force will be holding its inaugural hearing in Chicago, Ill., this Thursday and Friday, Oct. 20 and 21, 2011. Approximately two dozen witnesses over the course of two full days will testify before the task force providing a range of personal and professional experiences, perspectives and expertise on the important practical issues surrounding barriers to re-entry and the collateral consequences of a criminal record. Witnesses will include Judge Paul Biebel, Presiding Judge, Cook County Circuit Court, Criminal Division and John Schomberg, General Counsel, Office of the Governor of Illinois, as well as individuals who themselves confronted barriers to re-entry and other stakeholders.