NACDL's activities in support of Second Chance Month.

In Part II of the discussion on Race and Collateral Consequences, we explore how the use of “moral character” clauses, like those used in state bar licensing, can prevent individuals with convictions from participating in the legal profession. We also discuss a range of restrictions to entrepreneurial ventures that people with criminal convictions face that range from limiting a person’s ability to access capital through loans to barring participation in the legal, regulated cannabis industry.

In celebration of Second Chance Month in April, NACDL hosts the first of two discussions on race and collateral consequences. Panelists discuss the long-term impacts of criminal convictions, the specific harm that collateral consequences have caused to communities of color, and what it will take to meaningfully change this system.

The Restoration of Rights Project (RRP) is a free online resource that includes summaries and analyses of state and federal law relating to restoration of rights and status following arrest or conviction. Maintained and regularly updated by the Collateral Consequences Resource Center (CCRC), the RRP covers four primary topics: civil and firearms rights; pardons; expungement and other record relief; and employment and licensing. CCRC’s work on the RRP and its derivative projects is supported by a grant from Arnold Ventures.

Exploring Moral Principles and Economic Innovations to Restore Rights and Opportunity

In August 2018, NACDL hosted its 17^th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference and 2^nd Annual Presidential Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The Conference examined the destructive effect that a vast network of penalties, debarments, and disabilities following a criminal conviction has on the millions of people who have come in contact with the criminal justice system. [Released June 2019]

A Roadmap to Restore Rights and Status After Arrest or Conviction

Between 2012 and 2014, NACDL’s Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction embarked on a study of relief mechanisms available to those with a conviction on their record on the local, state and federal level. At an event at the Open Society Foundations in Washington, DC, NACDL released a major new report that comprehensively explored the stigma and policies relegating tens of millions of people in America to second-class status because of an arrest or conviction. [Released May 2014]

The undersigned organizations are committed to expanding voting rights to all citizens including people with felony convictions completing their sentences both inside and outside of incarceration. We applaud the introduction of New Mexico’s voting rights act, HB4, which, amongst other things, would end New Mexico’s practice of disenfranchising people on probation and parole. We urge passage of this measure. We also encourage the New Mexico legislature to go further and guarantee the right to all citizens regardless of their incarceration status.

Reports on restoration of rights and the collateral consequences of an arrest or conviction.

The consequences of conviction – specific legal barriers, generalized discrimination, and social stigma – have become more numerous and severe, more public, and more permanent. NACDL is proud to have several projects aimed at examining the collateral consequences of these convictions, including our 2014 report Collateral Damage, the 2018 Presidential Summit on collateral consequences, and our work to promote second chances at the state and federal level.

NACDL is a coalition partner of Fully Free: The Campaign to End Permanent Punishments. The campaign works to dismantle "the prison after the prison," the long-lasting barriers to housing, employment, education, civic engagement, and more for people with criminal records in Illinois.

NACDL worked with a coalition of organizations to advocate for the end of felony disenfranchisement in Oregon. 

Recording of Unlocking the Jury Box: How Felony Disenfranchisement Contributes to America's Jury Diversity Problem, a webinar hosted by NACDL for Second Chance Month 2022. 

Bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act Introduced; Nation's Criminal Defense Bar Calls Certain Provisions "An Important Move In The Right Direction" -- Washington, DC (Oct. 1, 2015) – This morning, in action unprecedented in recent decades, a broadly bipartisan group of U.S. Senators announced the introduction of the "Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act," a bill that appears to include certain provisions aimed at reversing America's overly harsh, overburdened and ineffective criminal justice system.

NACDL letters and testimony related to restoration of rights and collateral consequences.