Some punishments begin after prison

Crisis, The, May/Jun 2003 by Mauer, Marc

Student coalitions on college campuses around the nation have lobbied Congress, and the NAACP has called upon its officials and members to contact their Senators and Representatives to urge them to support H.R. 685. Introduced in February, the bill would repeal the ban on higher education loans for students convicted of drug offenses. It has 58 co-sponsors, but continues to languish in a House subcommittee.

The invisible punishments of crime policy serve no legitimate function in the justice system, but they create substantial barriers to former offenders attempting to re-establish themselves in the community. Policymakers who believe they are "sending a message" to offenders about deterrence are in reality sending a message that some persons will always be second-class citizens. This is hardly an effective approach to public safety or to achieving the promises of a democratic society.

Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., is the author of Race to Incarcerate and co-editor of Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, both published by The New Press.