INDEFINITE PUNISHMENT AND THE CRIMINAL RECORD: STIGMA REPORTS AMONG EXPUNGEMENT‐SEEKERS IN ILLINOIS*

• Date: 01 August 2016
• Published date: 01 August 2016
• Author: CHARLES E. LOEFFLER,SIMONE ISPA‐LANDA
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12108

INDEFINITE PUNISHMENT AND THE CRIMINAL

RECORD: STIGMA REPORTS AMONG

EXPUNGEMENT-SEEKERS IN ILLINOIS∗

SIMONE ISPA-LANDA1and CHARLES E. LOEFFLER2

1Department of Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern

University

2Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania

KEYWORDS: interviewing, criminal records, perceptions of criminal justice, reintegra-

tive discipline

Although criminal records in the United States are more publicly accessible than ever

before, we lack knowledge about how record-bearers seek to overcome the negative

consequences associated with a visible criminal record as they apply for jobs, housing,

and financial aid. Furthermore, although criminal histories record all arrests—and not

just those that result in conviction—researchers have yet to compare how those with

more extensive versus minor criminal records cope with criminal record stigma. We

present interview data from a comparative study of expungement-seekers (N=53)

who have petitioned the courts to remove their criminal records from public view. One

group had extensive criminal records (46 percent); the other group had more minor

criminal records (54 percent). Several key findings emerged. First, both groups of par-

ticipants tried, but failed, to persuade potential employers and landlords to overlook

the criminal record. They also faced restricted educational opportunity. Second, par-

ticipants in both groups expressed distress that criminal justice contact could follow

them throughout their lives, subjecting them to ongoing stigma. However, those with

extensive versus minor criminal records offered different rationales explaining why the

visible criminal record history unfairly burdened them. Implications for reintegration

theory and policy are discussed.

In past eras, individuals could use a variety of strategies to avoid the negative con-

sequences associated with past criminal justice contact (Lofland, 1969). For instance,

record-bearers often avoided telling employers and others about their criminal record,

knowing that it was unlikely to be revealed via third-party disclosure (Meisenhelder, 1982;

∗The authors presented this article at the 69th annual meeting of the American Society of Criminol-

ogy and at the Human Development & Social Policy Colloquium at Northwestern University. We

are grateful to the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago for supporting this research through

a postdoctoral position held by the second author during data collection. We thank Rosemary

Gartner, Gary Fine, Heather Schoenfeld, Chana Teeger, Mesmin Destin, Elizabeth Debraggio,

and Jonathan Guryan for constructive feedback on previous drafts, as well as Eric Brown and

Morgan Purrier for their help with data collection.

Direct correspondence to Simone Ispa-Landa, Department of Human Development and So-

cial Policy, Northwestern University, Annenberg Hall 207, Evanston, IL 60208 (e-mail: s-ispa-

landa@northwestern.edu).

C2016 American Society of Criminology doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12108

CRIMINOLOGY Volume 54 Number 3 387–412 2016 387

388 ISPA-LANDA & LOEFFLER

Shover, 1985). However, Web-enabled criminal record history searches and ubiquitous

background checks mean that record-bearers can no longer easily conceal their past crim-

inal justice contact. With a criminal record history, the smear of criminal justice contact

can follow individuals throughout their lives, continually impacting their opportunities for

employment, education, and housing (Carey, 2004; Evans and Porter, 2015; Jacobs, 2015).

These changes call for an examination of how today’s criminal record-holders attempt to

manage information about their past criminal justice contact as they seek employment,

housing, and educational opportunity. To move toward this goal, and to update an earlier

phenomenological literature on the lived experiences of individuals with criminal records,

we draw on interviews with a sample of expungement-seekers (N=53) who have peti-

tioned the courts to remove their criminal records from public view.

The visibility of the criminal record history makes it difficult for record-bearers to

avoid negative repercussions; background checks have become commonplace (Raphael,

2010). Furthermore, criminal histories record all arrests, not just those that result in con-

victions (Jacobs, 2015). Thus, the population of individuals who are affected by visible

criminal record histories ranges from those who have merely been arrested, with no

resulting conviction, to those who have been found guilty of a misdemeanor or felony

(Jacobs, 2015). Consistent with this fact, our qualitative sample of expungement-seekers

was nearly evenly split between individuals in two groups. One group comprised those

with extensive arrest and conviction histories (46 percent). A second group comprised

those with either arrests but no convictions or with only minor misdemeanor convic-

tions (54 percent). Our comparative analysis focuses on individuals in these two groups

and their experiences with the criminal record history prior to seeking expungement. In

particular, we were interested in whether both groups reported ongoing criminal record

stigma or in whether some individuals would report that they had not experienced crimi-

nal record stigma and were seeking expungement as a preventative strategy—to avoid fu-

ture problems. We also examined the strategies participants used to try to overcome the

negative consequences of criminal record stigma and their emotional and cognitive re-

sponses to blocked opportunity. In the event that we found that some participants did not

experience criminal record stigma, we sought to understand why they had been spared.

In what follows, we first summarize research suggesting historical changes in the ability

of criminal record-bearers to overcome the negative consequences of past criminal justice

contact. Then, we highlight research on the stigmatizing effects of a criminal record for

individuals with varying levels of past criminal justice contact, as well as provide back-

ground information on expungement and sealing. After that, we describe our research

methods and findings.

PERMANENT STIGMA OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE CONTACT

TODAY

The study of how criminally labeled individuals transition away from social identities

and roles as deviants into upstanding citizens flourished in the 1960s and 1970s (Grattet,

2011). Researchers found that ex-offenders could achieve social recognition for conven-

tional lifestyles by displaying behaviors consistent with conventionality, especially work-

ing at jobs that provided stability, financial security, social support, and interdependent

social networks (Meisenhelder, 1982). For instance, researchers described ex-offenders