Stigma Against Convicts Carries Over Into Laws

Update: Due to the government shutdown, many of the sites I used are no longer running. I will update with correct links when the websites are back up. 

Many people believe stigma is a negative and unnecessary part of our society, but it actually serves a crucial role. It persists today because it serves a sort of utility. Stigma is usually used, whether consciously or unconsciously, to pressure people to stay away from behaviors or actions that society believes is harmful.

However, when these stigmas are rooted in outdated thinking or, more importantly, they keep people from bettering themselves, they become more negative than the actions and behaviors we are trying to prevent.

Convicted criminals are a population group that faces heavy stigma. After serving a prison sentence, many say they walk out only to deal with another sentence: the judgment of the rest of society. 

I recently conducted a short survey to allow people to anonymously answer how they regard convicts. I posed the statement: criminals are bad people. I was shocked that just 52% of respondents said "false."

While survey results can only guess at a larger picture, the way this stigma manifests is much more telling. The above video is of Devah Pager speaking about her experiment. She used two similar men and sent out resumes on their behalf to employers, with one saying he had a felony. The results of the experiment show the stigma faced in the job market.

65% of employers in five large cities would not knowingly hire a convict

At the national level, we can see what happens when this stigma is prevalent and begins to dictate law. 

Prisoners do not have full Constitution rights, and are only protected by the 13^th Amendment , which requires the minimum standard of living, according to Cornell Law’s website,

There are many laws that restrict the rights of convicted criminals, especially felons. This is a highly stigmatized group within the larger prison population. The number one argument made against felons is that they are violent.

Yet only 18% of felonies committed between 1992 and 2002 were violent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Among many restrictions, felons cannot live in public housing, vote, and cannot be employed in certain fields. According to a study cited by the Economist, 65% of employers would not knowingly hire a convict. Convicts also risk losing any professional licensing, regardless of when they obtained it and are also restricted to the kinds of federal grants they can be awarded to ease higher education’s financial burden.

In addition to public housing restrictions, felons can be evicted from an apartment if the past crime they committed could be harmful to tenants of the current apartment. This is especially true for aggravated assault or other violent crimes.  

However, only about .5% of people become victims of violent crime, according to Felony Guide.

In Illinois, prisoners were given one outfit, ten dollars, and a one-way ticket to a pre-approved destination.

It’s also widely recognized that many convicts commit crimes due to environmental pressures. Once removed from the environment and given other opportunities, the person is unlikely to recommit the crime. This is especially true for criminal behaviors typically seen in low-income neighborhoods.

The recidivism rate, or “prison’s revolving doors,” is often used to argue the necessity of these consequences. However, it’s been found that this rate depends on the amount of opportunities available to released convicts. The rate is even lower if the prison offers programs to increase skills. Most importantly, and it goes without saying, these opportunities must be seized upon.

It’s often argued that the current rate is high, at about 43%, because freed convicts are given so few opportunities to take enough steps away from the revolving doors

And these opportunities are limited because of the strong stigma our nation holds both towards crime and those who commit crime. Our stigma creates the law that is supposed to be tough on crime but is just tough on criminals. So, the question then becomes, for how long do we punish them?