Several policy statements address legal barriers, which impede access to low-income housing (Policy Statement 18, Housing), employment and professional licensing opportunities (Policy Statement 21, Creation of Employment Opportunities), and public benefits (Policy Statement 24, Identification and Benefits). Recommendations in those policy statements suggest steps policymakers and practitioners can take to ensure that people understand these barriers, and, when appropriate, eliminate them or limit their reach. There are additional legal barriers, state and federal, not addressed in the preceding policy statements because there is no consensus about their appropriateness or usefulness. This afterward reviews several of these barriers, not to convey their merits or drawbacks, but rather to recognize their relevance to prisoner re-entry.

Surveying Local Barriers to Re-Entry

This report repeatedly highlights the value of identifying and assessing in each jurisdiction the legal barriers to re-entry, to enable policymakers to improve awareness (and shatter any myths) about these laws and regulations. Indeed, in many areas, individuals enter into guilty pleas and judges impose sentences without awareness or notification of these kinds of collateral sanctions, some or all of which may remain even after a person is released from a term of incarceration or has completed a period of community supervision. An individual may first learn about a restriction when he or she files an application for a barbering license, seeks to obtain a driver's permit, or attempts to register to vote. A survey of state and local codes and regulations that catalogs all the mandatory and discretionary sanctions for particular offenses or offense categories can therefore provide a key resource for those making and those affected by a range of legislative and policy-based collateral consequences. ^[1]  

Who could perform such a survey would vary from state to state. In some jurisdictions, a state criminal justice policy arm could be called upon. ^[2]   In others, the survey might be a good project for a law school or state bar association committee. For those doing this work in any state, the Legal Action Center's report, After Prison: Roadblocks to Reentry, A Report on State Legal Barriers Facing People with Criminal Records, along with its interactive website (www.lac.org), provides a good basis for the project, as it features state-by-state information on access to criminal records, public benefits, voting, employment, drivers' licenses, parenting, and public housing. ^[3]  

• Higher Education: Under the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ("HEA"), Congress established that students who have prior convictions for the possession or sale of controlled substances are ineligible for grants, loans, or work assistance authorized under the Act, including Pell grants, Stafford loans, and work-study programs. ^[4]   The law does not distinguish between old convictions, types of drugs, or amounts possessed or sold, nor does it affect individuals with other kinds of criminal convictions. It does, however, allow for suspension--rather than a lifetime ban--for a first or second conviction for possession or a first conviction for distribution; under certain conditions, an individual who completes a specified drug rehabilitation program may also have the suspension lifted. ^[5]  
• Parenting and Adoption: The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) made several changes to the law governing families and adoption, which particularly affect re-entering individuals. ^[6]   ASFA bars people with certain convictions from being adoptive or foster parents. Most states make individualized determinations about an applicant's suitability to be an adoptive or foster parent, taking into consideration the person's criminal record, as well as evidence of rehabilitation. ^[7]   Specifically, 35 states consider the relevance of an applicant's criminal record in deciding whether he or she may become an adoptive or foster parent, while 15 states have flat bars against people with criminal records becoming adoptive or foster parents. ^[8]   In addition, ASFA requires that states file termination proceedings against parents whose children who have been in state custody or foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months. ^[9]   Given the average length of time served for felony convictions, parents whose children have been placed in foster care during their incarceration may be subject to such automatic termination proceedings. ^[10]  
• Voting: Nearly all states place some limits on the right to vote for people with felony convictions. (See Appendix, chart, "Voting Restrictions for People with Felony Convictions.") The restrictions range from five states that have a lifetime bar to 12 states (plus the District of Columbia) that preclude only individuals who are actually incarcerated from voting. ^[11]   Maine and Vermont are the only two states that allow people to vote while they are incarcerated. ^[12]  

Certificates of Rehabilitation

A state-authorized and documented presumption of rehabilitation provides a way for qualified individuals with criminal records to demonstrate that they have paid their debt to society and therefore have earned the right to have statutory bars to jobs or other services lifted, as well as to have civil rights and public benefits reinstated. Through this certification, states can promote public safety and civic engagement, as well as the employment of people who have completed their sentences. Some states, including Arizona, California, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and Illinois, have enacted legislation to provide individuals with a way to remove barriers to employment or other post-release rights, benefits, or services, because of a conviction. ^[13]   Although such remedies are often referred to as "Certificates of Rehabilitation," states use different nomenclature (New York, for instance, offers "Certificates of Relief from Disabilities" and "Certificates of Good Conduct") and have created different eligibility requirements and forms of relief.