ABA Collateral Consequences Summit: A Focused Dialogue for Improvement

Criminal Law Practitioner Volume 2 Issue 2 Article 12 2015 ABA Collateral Consequences Summit: A Focused Dialogue for Improvement Kelly Lyn Mitchell Minnesota Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/clp Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Mitchell, Kelly Lyn (2015) "ABA Collateral Consequences Summit: A Focused Dialogue for Improvement," Criminal Law Practitioner: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2 , Article 12. Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/clp/vol2/iss2/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Criminal Law Practitioner by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact . Mitchell: ABA Collateral Consequences Summit: A Focused Dialogue for Improv Criminal Law Practitioner ABA COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES SUMMIT: A FOCUSED DIALOGUE FOR IMPROVEMENT by Kelly Mitchell In February 2015, the ABA Criminal Justice Section hosted a National Summit on Collateral Consequences. Collateral consequences can impede the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals into society. When applied thoughtfully and judiciously, some collateral consequences are appropriate. However, individuals who have convictions must be able to access employment, housing, education benefits, and other opportunities that empower them to succeed after completing their sentences. A successful reentry experience is key to helping individuals avoid recidivating. The ABA Criminal Justice Section has a long history of engaging in meaningful dialogue with policymakers, practitioners, and other groups regarding the use and impact of collateral consequences. Recognizing the mutual responsibility of those in the criminal justice community to close the opportunity gap created by collateral consequences, the ABA Criminal Justice Section brought together the collective minds of the leadership of a myriad of distinguished organizations. Their purpose was to examine and debate potential solutions, to further the dialogue on systemic reform, and to find new ways to collaborate with one another on the local, state, and national levels. Additionally, the Summit served as an opportunity to highlight the ABA National Inventory of the Collateral Consequences of Conviction (NICCC). The NICCC is an online database, available at abacollateralconsequences. org, that catalogues each jurisdiction's laws and rules imposing collateral consequences. Available to the public free of charge, this resource for the first time makes it possible for criminal and civil lawyers and the public to determine the collateral consequences that are triggered by particular categories of offenses. It allows individuals to understand the limits collateral consequences impose on their rights, benefits, and opportunities. It also allows lawmakers and policy advocates to understand the full measure of a jurisdiction's collateral sanctions and disqualifications. The NICCC was funded through a grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The success of the NICCC is due to the strong leadership and support by George Washington Law School Professor Steven A. Saltzburg, who served as Chair of the NICCC's Advisory Board, and Johnathan Gitlen, former Director of the NICCC project. The topic of collateral consequences was covered from multiple angles during four plenary sessions. The Summit opened with a panel, entitled CollateralConsequences as a Barrier to Reentry A Dialogue with Stakeholders, during which panelists discussed the scope of collateral consequences including the effects on adults convicted of crime. For example, former Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole discussed efforts by the Department of Justice to focus on the establishment of effective reentry programs and to encourage its attorneys to seek sentences that are proportionate to the crime. Other panelists discussed such topics as the importance of effective and knowledgeable representation and the importance of having success- Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, 2014 Summer 2015 1 Washington College of Law To Criminal Law Practitioner, Vol. 2 [2014], Iss. 2, Art. 12 Criminal Law Practitioner ful reentrants serve as the voice of this issue. The second panel, entitled RealLife CollateralConsequences:Storiesfrom the Field, drew upon the panelists' own experiences and focused on the real-world impacts of collateral consequences. For example, April Frazier-Camara, with the Shelby County Public Defender in Memphis, Tennessee, impressed upon the audience the importance of discussing collateral consequences in the context of poverty and race. Additionally, Runa Rajagopal, a Civil Action Attorney with the Bronx Defenders in New York, commented that multiple collateral consequences are often triggered by arrest, requiring the individual to defend on multiple state regulatory structures governing the use of criminal records data for employment, education, and housing. Sharon Dietrich, Litigation Director of Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, remarked that criminal records are the single most common reason people come to her agency for employment help. She highlighted research demonstrating that even lowlevel convictions can interfere with employment prospects.' Juxtaposed against this, Gregg Leslie, Legal Defense Director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, stressed the importance of public access to information and suggested that the focus should instead be on addressing the improper use of information. During the fourth panel, entitled Judges on Justice: A Discussion of Sentencing Considerations & Collateral Consequences, four judges drawn from the Federal District Court and Superior Court of the District of Columbia discussed the role that judges play with regard to collateral consequences. Panelists commented. The third panel, entitled Criminal Re- that there is very little judges can do to directly cords in the DigitalAge, focused on how the rise Christopher Uggen, Mike Vuolo, Sarah Lageson, of the digital age substantially alters what it 1 Ebony Ruhland, and Hilary Whitham, "The Edge of Stigma: means to have a criminal record in this coun- An ExperimentalAudit of the Effects ofLow-Level Criminal try. This panel explored the impact of a wide Records on Employment. " Forthcoming in Criminology, range of digitized criminal records information (2014) available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ and also addressed the efficacy of federal and journal/10. 111/(ISSN)1745-9125. fronts at once (e.g., housing eviction, child protection services, job licensure, etc.). Other panelists discussed the power of prosecutorial intervention at the front end of the case and barriers to reentry, such as convincing employers to hire individuals (...truncated)