The Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative has been engaged in an ongoing effort to catalog and compare lawmaking and rulemaking that restrict employment access for people with criminal convictions. Examples include laws that broadly restrict access to highly regulated sectors such as financial and health care services. Others more narrowly restrict occupations requiring professional certification, or limit access to licenses or permits.

The proliferation of seemingly minor restrictions can close access to large swaths of jobs, passively contributing to unemployment levels for people with criminal convictions that rival the Great Depression. This report identifies best practices for crafting narrowly tailored, equitable restrictions, and identifies areas where policies should be updated to avoid being overly restrictive or broad. As the state implements reforms seeking to mitigate private discrimination in employment for the justice impacted, it is critical that formal legal restrictions aren’t overlooked, as these result in prolonged barriers for people returning home to an artificially narrowed labor market.