The Criminal Record Complex
Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America
Book •
Melissa Burch's 'The Criminal Record Complex' analyzes how routine background screening and institutional forces produce widespread exclusion of people with convictions from work and vital resources.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Southern California, Burch traces the historical, technological, and legal shifts that made criminal records more public and influential in hiring.
She documents how stigma, bureaucratic procedures, and industries promoting background checks create a self-reinforcing complex that often excludes qualified candidates.
The book highlights tensions between small-business practices and larger institutional pressures, and the lived experiences of job seekers navigating parole, transportation, and employer protocols.
Burch argues for addressing underlying beliefs about risk and building economic and community supports rather than relying on the false comfort of background checks.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Southern California, Burch traces the historical, technological, and legal shifts that made criminal records more public and influential in hiring.
She documents how stigma, bureaucratic procedures, and industries promoting background checks create a self-reinforcing complex that often excludes qualified candidates.
The book highlights tensions between small-business practices and larger institutional pressures, and the lived experiences of job seekers navigating parole, transportation, and employer protocols.
Burch argues for addressing underlying beliefs about risk and building economic and community supports rather than relying on the false comfort of background checks.
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Christina Gessler
The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America
Mentioned by
Christina Gessler
The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America
