Throwing out the Garbage Cases

AS AMERICA'S CORRECTIONAL POPULATIONS HAVE ROCKETED UPWARD since the 1970s, researchers have quite properly focused attention on prisons and prisoners. Yet examinations ofthe US punishment record must look beyond prison gates, as criminal justice sanctions also trigger a range of formal and informal collateral consequences. For those so punished, employment restrictions and other collateral sanctions complicate and confound efforts to assume the rights and duties of citizenship. I here suggest two broad approaches for scaling back some ofthe deleterious effects of punishment wathout compromising public safety. The first approach involves reducing the scope and number of collateral sanctions imposed automatically vwth a felony conviction. The second approach involves creating fewer records in the first place by redirecting low-level offenses away from the criminal justice system.