This National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) report provides an overview of the carceral medical debt problem and policy recommendations and solutions to address the issue. The report provides background on the nature of carceral medical debt, including the complex healthcare needs of people who are incarcerated, what fees are assessed and why, how these fees…
Landlords in the United States almost always engage in some form of screening of rental applicants. This screening often involves reports or scores purchased from specialized tenant screening consumer reporting agencies (CRAs). The reports typically combine information about eviction filings, criminal records, and credit history. Often the reports include a score or recommendation based on these records, and in some cases, this score or recommendation is the only information conveyed to the landlord.
The collateral consequences of ending up on the wrong side of America’s criminal legal system are increasingly recognized as wide-ranging and harmful. Incarceration or even simply a criminal record can limit nearly every aspect of a person’s life even after their sentence ends, interfering with the ability to keep or get a job and support…
Over the past several decades, bankruptcy gave tens of millions of Americans a fresh start free from crushing debt. Although criminal justice debt weighs disproportionately upon those with the least ability to pay, it has generally been excluded from bankruptcy’s fresh start. This exclusion has been grounded on the belief that allowing discharge of monetary…
Applying consumer laws to commercial bail, prison retail, and private debt collection Increasingly, Americans who have contact with the criminal legal system find themselves deprived not only of their liberty but also of their property, as the system imposes onerous fines and fees on criminal defendants and their loved ones. Today, the resulting criminal justice…
This report provides an update to the 2012 Broken Records report. Today, the background screening industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, with about 94% of employers and about 90% of landlords using background checks to evaluate prospective employees and tenants. Background screening companies now generate reports through largely automated processes. Generally, they run automated searches…
