According to The Brennan Center:
- The number of Americans with criminal records today is larger than the entire U.S. Population in 1900.
- Holding hands, Americans with arrest records could circle the earth three times.
- America now has roughly the same number of people with criminal records as it does with college degrees.
- Nearly half of black males and almost 40 percent of white males are arrested by the age of 23.
The numbers for Georgia are even worse, per the Georgia Center for Opportunity:
1 in 13 Georgia adults are either in jail, prison, on parole, or on probation.
1 of every 4 adults in Georgia has a criminal record, totaling 2.6 million people.
A criminal record can have a long-lasting impact that many people don’t realize at the time, including:
- A reduction in chances of being hired for jobs;
- Limited advancement or opportunities for promotion within jobs;
- Restrictions on obtaining professional licensing for jobs;
- Reduced opportunities for further education;
- Restrictions on the ability to obtain housing or upgrade to better housing;
- Limitations of receipt of federal and/or state assistance;
- Inability to adopt or foster children;
- Inability to obtain loans or insurance, or paying higher premiums for loans or insurance;
- Restrictions on the ability to volunteer with certain organizations.
A record restriction or pardon can ease some or all of these impacts of an arrest record.
The Georgia Legislature, effective January 1, 2021, enacted a new law (Senate Bill 288) that allows those convicted of certain criminal offenses to have up to two restricted from their criminal history, meaning that the record of arrest and conviction can only be seen by law enforcement, but cannot be seen by others, such as employers, potential employers, schools, volunteer groups, etc. There are some detailed screening requirements that the applicant has to clear in order to apply, and then it is up to the judge’s discretion as to whether to grant.
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– Anonymous
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