Collateral Consequence & Reentry Issues

Over at Blackprof.com, guest blogger and Maryland law professor Michael Pinard has an interesting and challenging post, Reentry Issues and Questions, which apparently will be the first post in a series on the subject. More and more attention has been paid to the collateral consequences of criminal convictions and reentry issues as the legal and social obstacles to offender reentry into society become more significant and continue to impact specific communities disproportionately. I know that in my eleven-year term of practice as a public defender in New York City, these issues went from mostly a background consideration to a key factor in many cases, and prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys quickly needed to become near-experts in immigration law, housing law and public benefits law, at a minimum. Professor Pinard has written some very thoughtful pieces in this area, and his post presents similarly important information and questions.