In the past three decades, incarceration rates have exploded in the U.S., more than any other country in the world. The result is that many more people encounter the criminal justice system at some point in their lives. Indeed, an estimated 1 in 3 adults or 8 million people in California have an arrest or conviction record, and low-income people and people of color are disproportionately affected.

A person with a prior record faces significant barriers to employment, occupational licensing, and other basic necessities like housing, even when the record is old or relatively minor. Now more than ever, immigrants face the threat of deportation based on criminal justice contacts as minor as an arrest that did not result in conviction. This training is designed to give lawyers a foundation in the collateral consequences of contact with the criminal justice system, as well as tools for representing clients in need of reentry legal services.