Just Facts: As Many Americans Have Criminal Records as College Diplomas

With as many criminal convictions as college degrees, it’s more evident than ever why “ban the box” laws are important for the economy.

The number of Amer­ic­ans with a crim­inal history has risen sharply over the past three decades. Today, nearly one-third of the adult work­ing age popu­la­tion has a crim­inal record. In fact, so many Amer­ic­ans have a crim­inal record that count­ing them all is nearly impossible.

Accord­ing to a 2012 Depart­ment of Justice survey, state crim­inal history repos­it­or­ies contain more than 100 million records. These are popularly referred to as “rap sheets” or “crim­inal records” although most people who have them have never been convicted of a seri­ous crime.

Become a Vision Partner today!

These repos­it­or­ies chron­icle nearly every arrest, regard­less of whether or not it leads to an indict­ment or convic­tion. And while 100 million records do exist, this figure almost certainly over­states the true number of indi­vidu­als who have been arres­ted at any point in their lives, since one person can have an arrest record in multiple states.

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

Read More