New Data Shows More than 2 Million New Yorkers have a Criminal Record, Costing a Total of $12.6 Billion in Reduced Earnings Annually

From [HERE] For far too many people, a criminal record can stand in the way of jobs, loans, and even housing. Devastating to individuals and families, the economic consequences add up, weakening state and local economies. Research shows that as a state’s share of felony convictions rises, so does the number of unemployed people.

What does that mean for New York? In a 2021 report, we estimated that there were around 337,000 New Yorkers who had been imprisoned at some point in their lives, and reduced earning potential related to time in prison cost them $1.9 billion every year.

But that number was, if anything, an underestimate of the economic effects of criminal records, because it omitted the effects of convictions that do not include prison time.

How many people have a criminal record?

Data on the criminal justice system is notoriously hard to come by, and the Brennan Center and other researchers have historically relied on estimates to understand how many people have a criminal record (and what kind of record they have). By working with state officials, researchers at John Jay College’s Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ) were able to improve on that process, concluding that roughly 2.1 million adult New Yorkers have a criminal conviction of some kind. By comparison, the state’s workforce comprises around 9.7 million people.

DCJ’s data also identifies profound racial disparities in the distribution of criminal records. Roughly 30 percent of people with a conviction record in New York State are Black, but only around 15 percent of the state’s overall population is Black. Interestingly, our research found that Black New Yorkers make up a much larger share (43 percent) of formerly imprisoned people in the state. This discrepancy could be due to many different factors, among them racially discriminatory sentencing laws.

What is the economic impact of these convictions? 

Equipped with a better estimate of the number of New Yorkers with criminal convictions, we can more accurately gauge the true economic impact of a conviction on lifetime earnings in the state.

According to a 2020 Brennan Center analysis, felony convictions reduce a person’s annual earnings by around 20 percent, and misdemeanors by around 15 percent. Applying those estimates to DCJ’s analysis, as shown below, suggests that underemployment related to a criminal record costs New Yorkers around $12.6 billion annually — more than five times our estimate of the effects of prison terms alone on annual earnings. [MORE]