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DECADES OF TARGETED CRIMINALIZATION HAS MARKED TENS OF MILLIONS OF U.S. ADULTS WITH A CRIMINAL RECORD.

FOR NEARLY TWENTY MILLION, INCLUDING 23 PERCENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ADULTS,THE CONVICTION IS CLASSIFIED AS A FELONY.

MOST EMPLOYERS AND LANDLORDS CONDUCT BACKGROUND CHECKS AS A MATTER OF ROUTINE AND DISCRIMINATE ON THEIR BASIS. THIS DISCRIMINATION IS ALLOWED - AND IN SOME CASES REQUIRED - BY LAW.

Learn more about the Afterlives of Conviction Project

EXPLORE LIVED EXPERIENCES

Many analyses of the carceral state rely heavily on numbers. While essential for documenting the scope and contours of punishment practices, the broad strokes tell us little about how things work in daily practice, the nuances of human interaction, or the details of how policies are enacted, understood and felt by those experiencing them. By tacking back and forth between lived realities, broader contexts and longer histories, ethnography can be a powerful tool for unpacking complex phenomena.