Checking the Box

A criminal conviction doesn't end when the sentence does. Across much of the United States, a felony record can cost you your vote, your seat on a jury, and your shot at housing, jobs and professional licenses, sometimes for life. This week on Making Contact, we trace felony disenfranchisement and the "collateral consequences" of a record back to the Black Codes and the post-Civil War state constitutions, and ask why these laws still fall hardest on Black Americans. We hear from Nicole Porter of The Sentencing Project, UC Davis law professor Gabriel "Jack" Chin, and Tamora and Lance Wissinger of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who describe life after conviction in their own words. Content advisory: one segment describes sexual assault by a police officer. Featuring: Nicole Porter, Senior Director of Advocacy, The Sentencing Project; Gabriel "Jack" Chin, Professor and Director of Clinical Legal Education, UC Davis School of Law; Tamora, returning citizen, Florida Rights Restor