More than 70 million Americans have a criminal record. That staggering number is not a coincidence. It’s all a part of a system to funnel us into even more financial and legal dismay.
Interacting with the criminal legal system in any capacity spells doom for our individual and family financial futures. According to the Center For American Progress, 50% of households with an incarcerated family member have 50% less wealth than households not affected by incarceration. And it gets worse.
Those affected by this system suffer from less earnings for the rest of their lives resulting in an estimated $370 billion in lost earnings from criminal convictions each year. How can we build our communities when so many of us are financially damaged by this system?
Ending this system can improve our finances and create one less legal barrier to living in this country freely. Reform can’t fix a system designed to harm us.
We have to work to dismantle the criminal legal system. How can we imagine a world without prisons, and our modern understanding of legality and consequence?