Kirk & Wakefield
This term describes the convergence of immigration enforcement and the criminal justice system, leading to a massive increase in detentions.
Crimmigration
These social gatherings, organized by family, serve to celebrate the end of incarceration and signal the “moral inclusion” of the individual back into the group.
Welcome home parties
This term, coined by Sarah Lageson, describes the widespread dissemination of personally identifiable criminal data by both the legal system and private actors as a form of social control.
Digital punishment
This term refers to the process by which formerly incarcerated individuals transition back into society, often navigating barriers related to housing, employment, and social reintegration
Reentry
These kinds of programs provide support to people leaving prison, offering services such as job training, housing assistance, and counseling to help them successfully reintegrate
Reentry programs
Kirk and Wakefield argue that this term is actually a "misnomer," as it implies these impacts are secondary or unintended, when they are often central and purposeful.
Collateral
This demographic group provided the vast majority of financial and housing support for the reentry sample
Older women (mothers, grandmothers, sisters)
Beyond just a list of crimes, modern inmate databases further erode digital privacy by including these highly personal details.
Physical characteristics (tattoos/skin tone)
After release, Jamal applies to multiple jobs and is consistently rejected once employers conduct background checks, despite being qualified. This illustrates how criminal records act as this type of barrier within the work force
Employment discrimination (specifically against formerly incarcerated individuals)
This is the most common form of government material maintenance for those returning from prison, with enrollment rates climbing to over 70% within two months of release.
Food stamps (SNAP)
While the U.S. relies on scattered surveys, Kirk and Wakefield suggest the U.S. should emulate these countries’ “register data” systems to track individuals across health, work, and justice sectors.
Nordic or European countries
For many men in the study, the proximity to strangers and the risk of being “jostled” triggered intense anxiety which caused them to do this
Avoid public transportation (bus/train) and choose to walk instead
Label applied to individuals who possess a stigma which can be concealed
Discreditable individual
Public housing authorities that deny applicants with certain criminal convictions create a barrier that is especially significant because it limits access to this stabilizing resource, which is strongly associated with lower recidivism
Stable housing (or access to housing)
Halfway houses, substance abuse treatment, and cognitive behavioral programs aim to reduce recidivism by addressing these underlying issues which often contribute to reoffending
Criminogenic needs (risk factors)
In her theoretical framework, Sarah Lageson argues that digital criminal records constitute a modern form of punishment because the data possesses these three specific, problematic characteristics
Disordered, commodified, and biased
Western notes that this “vivid sign” of social isolation at the moment of release is strongly linked to poor social integration six months later.
Being transported from prison by the state (rather than by family/friends)
A man avoids opening a bank account or seeking medical care because he fears his data will be flagged in a system. This behavior is known by this term, describing how those under surveillance disengage from formal institutions.
Systems avoidance
Reentry barriers often interact and compound (for example, lack of housing can make it harder to secure employment), demonstrating this concept, where multiple disadvantages reinforce each other
Cumulative disadvantage (or compounding effect of barriers)
A bipartisan policy model that uses technology to automatically clear criminal records if a person stays crime-free
Clean Slate Initiative
How does Kirk and Wakefield’s definition of “collateral consequences of conviction” differ from the American Bar Association’s?
The American Bar Association defines collateral consequences of conviction as “legal and regulatory sanctions and restrictions” that limit opportunities for people with criminal records.
The authors argue that collateral consequences include both formal sanctions (restrictions on housing, voting, and jobs) and informal impacts on families, communities, and democracy.
What two groups of respondents struggled significantly more with integration? Provide at least two reasons why these groups struggled more.
Older respondents (in their late 40s and 50s) and individuals with histories of drug addiction and mental illness.
Reasons: less family support, higher rates of housing insecurity, barriers to employment
According to Lageson, these are the two ways that digital criminal record data can create bias.
1. The broad accessibility of online records can exacerbate criminal record-based discrimination, particularly against Black and Brown people and particularly for arrest and charging records that reflect discretion and bias by police and prosecutors
2. Criminal record data are routinely used for risk assessments, machine learning, and algorithmic predictions, but “using data from a racially biased criminal justice system can lead to unmeasurable biases in both risk scores and outcome measures”
Some scholars argue that widespread reentry barriers effectively extend punishment beyond prison sentences, raising questions about this foundational principle of justice
Proportionality (fairness in punishment/idea that punishment should be limited to a sentence)
Even well-designed reentry programs can fail if they don’t account for systemic barriers like housing discrimination, limited voting rights, or occupational restrictions, indicating that individual-level support cannot fully overcome these larger structural barriers. Such a critique highlights the tension between individual interventions and this broader concept
Structural inequality (systemic barriers to reintegration)