Ron L. Krannich - The Ex-Offenders Re-Entry Assistance Directory: Public and Private Support Programs for Making It on the Outside

Appendices

W HEN YOU RECEIVE A SENTENCE for a criminal conviction, you may be shocked to discover that you also face a variety of life-long sentences restrictions on what you can and cannot do in reference to employment, licensing, certification, education, finance, housing, government benefits, voting rights, and travel. Indeed, you may quickly discover that you will never be completely free, since your conviction comes with conditions. Known as collateral consequences of convictions, these restrictions are something most ex-offenders are not aware of until they are released from jails and prisons and encounter the street-level realities of being an ex-con.

Employment remains the single most important accelerator for re-entry success. Without a decent job, life on the outside for ex-offenders can be very difficult. Therefore, its extremely important that newly released inmates quickly find a job that enables them to succeed at re-entry acquire affordable housing and transportation, minimize debt, become banked and financially stable, and acquire a variety of important support services relating to food, clothing, physical and mental health, substance abuse, and education.

However, many ex-offenders face employment and related barriers based upon the nature of their convictions. If, for example, you have been convicted for fraud, your job options relating to financial institutions will be limited. If youve been convicted of a sex crime, youll be prohibited from acquiring jobs that deal with the care of children and the elderly. Indeed, various states prohibit convicted felons from acquiring jobs relating to finance, health care, education, children, and law enforcement. Knowing which states prohibit ex-offenders from entering certain occupations can be difficult for many ex-offenders who dont know where to find such information.

A great deal of employment misinformation, including urban legends, affects ex-offenders who wish to re-enter the work world until now. The good news is that the American Bar Association has created a very useful interactive tool for identifying employment and other restrictions on ex-offenders. Known as the National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Convictions, this website should be used by all ex-offenders who need to be aware of legal restrictions affecting their futures:

www.abacollateralconsequences.org

It includes an interactive state map (www.abacollateralconsequences.org/map/) for identifying and searching multiple jurisdictions on a variety of restrictive criteria. Its search feature enables users to simultaneously explore ABAs database by three different consequences: categories, types, and offenses:

www.abacollateralconsequences.org/search/?jurisdiction=15

Consequence categories include restrictions relating to:

Employment

Occupational and professional license and certification

Business license and other property rights

Government contracting and program participation

Government loans and grants

Judicial rights

Government benefits

Education

Political and civic participation

Consequence types include restrictions by:

Mandatory/Automatic

Discretionary

Discretionary (waiver)

Background Check

N/A General Relief

Consequences offenses include restrictions by:

Any offense (including felony, misdemeanor, and lesser offense)

Any felony

Any misdemeanor

Crime of moral turpitude

Crimes involving fraud, dishonesty, misrepresentation, or money-laundering

Crimes of violence, including person offenses

Weapons offenses

Controlled substances offenses

Sex offenses

Public corruption offenses

Election-related offenses

Motor vehicle offenses

Child support offenses

Other

N/A (background check, general relief)

H OW WELL PREPARED ARE EX-OFFENDERS FOR re-entering and succeeding in the free world? There are no right or wrong answers to the following exercise. Be aware that it is a very long and thorough exercise it may take 30 minutes to complete. Most of the issues included here relate to the re-entry success process, which is outlined in another book The Ex-Offenders Re-Entry Success Guide (Impact Publications, 2016). The exercise is designed to give ex-offenders useful feedback by measuring their current level of re-entry information, skills, and strategies as well as identifying those they need to develop and improve. They identify their level of re-entry competence, or how well prepared they are for re-entry, by completing the following exercise:

INSTRUCTIONS: Respond to each statement by circling which number at the right best represents your situation.

SCALE: 1 = Strongly disagree

2 = Disagree

3 = Maybe, not certain

4 = Agree

5 = Strongly agree