New Books in Critical Theory The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America
Mar 26, 2026
Dr. Melissa Burch, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan and director of the Afterlives of Conviction Project, studies criminal records and employment. She traces how background checks became widespread, explores the Ban the Box movement, and recounts ethnographic fieldwork with job-seekers and workforce staff. She challenges the belief that screening ensures workplace safety and points toward deeper structural change.
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Ban the Box Changed The Conversation About Records
- Ban the Box removed the upfront conviction question to force employers to consider skills first.
- The campaign began with formerly incarcerated organizers and spread as a symbolic critique of blanket exclusion on applications.
Records Became Public Through Law And Technology
- Public access to compiled criminal records expanded after tech and legal changes in the 1970s, shifting records from hard-to-find courthouse files to searchable databases.
- Melissa Burch links Paul v. Davis and digitization to the modern ubiquity of background checks.
Protect Sources While Reporting Ethnography
- Ethnographers must balance transparency and protection when taking notes and using names in long-term research.
- Melissa Burch describes stopping note-taking when it made people uncomfortable and choosing anonymization depending on potential harm.
