The Symbiotic Harm of a Criminal Record

“[W]hen we are so bent on punishing the person that we have put into the criminal justice system, we are, by extension, punishing families and generations.” - Victoria, community representative, CA

An old arrest or conviction record doesn’t just impact the person who has it; it can entirely reshape family life — and new research funded by The Clean Slate Initiative explores that ripple effect. 

The Symbiotic Harm of a Criminal Record by Ericka B. Adams, Elsa Y. Chen, and Sarah E. Lageson and published in Criminal Justice and Behavior, sheds light on how records have relational, interdependent effects that reverberate through households and communities. The research draws on interviews with 59 people who are eligible for record sealing, and 69 community stakeholders across California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah. The findings make it clear: automated record sealing is a policy solution that can help mitigate those harms. 

Collateral Consequences as Symbiotic Harms

“Collateral consequences” is the term that describes civil penalties and policies that bar access to opportunities following a conviction. The concept of symbiotic harms expands on collateral consequences, capturing how those effects move through the interdependencies of family life, altering caregiving, finances, housing, and school engagement, often for years. 

In other words, what happens to the person with a record significantly impacts their children and family. The form and intensity of harm shifts over time and across families. While families keep adapting, their capacity to do so depends on the resources they have available to them. 

The symbiotic harms of records particularly impact the following areas: 

1. Financial Support: Interviewees repeatedly linked records to lost jobs, stalled promotions, and “taking whatever shift pays more,” which directly affected children’s stability and time with caregivers. Some felt compelled to hide records on applications or take risky, off-the-books work to keep the lights on. Income volatility and odd-hour schedules limit parental presence, after-school supervision, and access to enrichment, conditions tied to worse youth outcomes. 

“I feel like I could have given both my kids better, shown them better, taught them better, and been there a little more. Not had to take a graveyard shift, because it paid more and missed out in the mornings and in the afternoons. And you know, I missed out on a lot of things because I had to work graveyards.” (Melony, UT)

“When people can’t secure employment, when people can’t provide for themselves and their family, there’s lots of ramifications that do affect the community. [I]f we have people who just feel hopeless, and continue to turn to non-conventional ways of providing for their families, because they can’t get a conventional job, that hurts a lot of people beyond just the individual core person or their family nucleus.” (Nyla, community representative, Public Defender’s Office, CA)

2. Housing: Records triggered evictions, voucher loss, and exclusion from higher-quality rentals, pushing whole households into unstable or substandard housing. Even though children or elders had no involvement in the legal system, they were impacted by the collateral consequences of records on their housing stability. Where families live shapes access to schools, safety, and opportunity; instability compounds stress and jeopardizes reunification.
   

“I’m a full-time caretaker for my dad. He’s a disabled veteran . . . I got evicted because of my two felonies and stuff, even though my felonies are way back from 2008 . . . That’s something that they had to specifically be looking for, because that’s well over 10 years ago.” (Stephanie, UT)

“This affects the children, so they end up living in substandard housing and the children grow up in environments that probably aren’t as conducive as they could be to their growth, to their trajectories, and to the behaviors they model.” (Victoria, community representative, CA)

3. Participating in Activities with Children: Parents and grandparents described being barred from chaperoning field trips, volunteering, coaching, or self-excluding themselves to avoid stigma if a background check surfaced old charges. Caregiver participation boosts student achievement and connects adults to pro-social networks that support a crime-free lifestyle. Blocking engagement hurts kids and undermines reentry.

“...I’m horrified to make my appearance at the school because I don’t want my son to be cut off or to be referred to as the son of a criminal.” (James, Utah)

“[S]ometimes a person with a criminal record is prohibited from volunteering at their child’s school, or sports activity. So it really interferes with that family bond, that family time.” (Grace, community representative, PA)‍

“I do know plenty of people in the recovery community. They cannot go on field trips with their children, or cannot go to their children’s school and volunteer because of their criminal record. And they’ve been sober for 10, 15 years.” (Sienna, Utah)

4. Custody: Records reconfigure caregiving webs. They complicate situations like regaining custody after a crisis and family placements when children need safe homes. In some cases, grandparents with very old misdemeanor records are disqualified; families pay lawyers or even split households to satisfy rules. When family members are screened out based on dated or minor records, children lose the stability of familiar caregivers, and trauma deepens.

“I really assumed the state would let me have my grandson since he didn’t have anywhere else to go. But instead, they throw him in foster care because of my past. [I had to] get a very expensive lawyer [and] fight for two years to get my grandson to live with me. I’ve sent two children to college. I’m now a licensed plumber, I live in a very nice community, I work my butt off, I work two jobs. I’ve not broken the law since 2005 . . . And they chose to put him in foster care and group homes for two years and make severe damage to him emotionally, where we’re struggling with it.” (Randy, UT)

Clean Slate Policies Can Reduce the Harms of Records and Improve Family Life 

Petition-based record sealing processes are confusing, costly, and underutilized. Automated Clean Slate policies shift the burden from individuals to the state, closing the second-chance gap for people who have remained crime-free for years. 

Participants point to one practical lever that can reliably improve families' everyday lives: record sealing. When old records are sealed, people gain access to better jobs, steadier incomes, and safer housing, and parents and grandparents can fully participate in their families’ lives. It’s clear from this research that automated record sealing doesn’t just help individuals. Clean Slate policies turn second chances into family outcomes: steadier income, safer housing, and parents who can finally show up for their children.

“I think I’ve had several clients where, these are single mothers with more than one child in the household, trying to make ends meet. And all of a sudden [post record clearance], they can get a job that’s not…packaging chickens, or some sort of minimum wage jobs. So, I think it’s helped people get off of government assistance.” (Yale, community representative, CA)

“The most obvious benefit is to spouses and children of the person with the criminal record. Suddenly, they are eligible for better work, better pay, and better overall standard of living.” (Warrick, community representative,CA)

“[I]t will be great, . . . like a burden off my back. I’ll feel a lot more confident moving forward with certain jobs, I won’t lie, like there’s one job, unfortunately, I will have to miss out on getting into union with them because of my jacket [record]. So, you know, moving forward, it will give me a relief and more of a sense of hope. And you know, and being able to provide for my family a whole lot better.” (Matthew, PA)