--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Once you've acquired a criminal record…" description: "\"Once you've acquired a criminal record, you can be discriminated against legally in employment, housing, and access to education and public benefits. Y..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03e/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_once-you-ve-acquired-a-criminal-record-y_982345.jpg" --- # Once you've acquired a criminal record, you can be… ![“Once you've acquired a criminal record, you can be discriminated against legally in employment, housing, and access to education and public benefits. You're relegated to a permanent second-class status, forever a 'criminal.' Inflicting this amount of unnecessary pain and suffering is not cheap.” quote by Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03e/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_once-you-ve-acquired-a-criminal-record-y_982345.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03e/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_once-you-ve-acquired-a-criminal-record-y_982345.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03e/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_once-you-ve-acquired-a-criminal-record-y_982345.jpg) > “Once you've acquired a criminal record, you can be discriminated against legally in employment, housing, and access to education and public benefits. You're relegated to a permanent second-class status, forever a 'criminal.' Inflicting this amount of unnecessary pain and suffering is not cheap.” [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Legal discrimination persists after a criminal record, relegating individuals to lower social status and denying equal opportunities. **In simple terms:** Criminal records cause lasting discrimination. Key Takeaway Advocate for reform and support affected individuals. Themes justice equality systemic bias rehabilitation social stigma Mood frustrated determined hopeful Type policy advocacy analysis When to use this quote - job applications - housing searches - education enrollment - public benefits claims Key Concepts civil rights mass incarceration structural inequality Questions to Reflect On - How can society reduce the impact of criminal records? - What reforms would most effectively restore equal rights? A Different Perspective Legal barriers can be challenged through policy change and advocacy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Access to education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/access-to-education/) [Class status](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-status/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Pain and suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain-and-suffering/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [Regardless of what the law or your teachers have to say about this, you are as human as anyone over the age of 18…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-llewellyn/regardless-of-what-the-law-or-your-teachers-have-to-say-about-this/) [Grace Llewellyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-llewellyn/) > [If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled felons for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-you-take-into-account-prisoners-a-large-majority-of-african/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Merely reducing sentence length, by itself, does not disturb the basic architecture of the New Jim Crow. So long as large numbers of African…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/merely-reducing-sentence-length-by-itself-does-not-disturb-the-basic/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [In this country, we force millions of people - who are largely black and brown - into a permanent second-class status simply because they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/in-this-country-we-force-millions-of-people-who-are-largely-black-and/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Once a person is labeled a felon, he or she is ushered into a parallel universe in which discrimination, stigma, and exclusion are perfectly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/once-a-person-is-labeled-a-felon-he-or-she-is-ushered-into-a-parallel/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Public housing officials are free to discriminate against you on the basis of criminal records, including arrest records. And so, you know, what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/public-housing-officials-are-free-to-discriminate-against-you-on-the/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [For reasons that have stunningly little to do with crime or crime rates, we, as a nation, have chosen to lock up more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/for-reasons-that-have-stunningly-little-to-do-with-crime-or-crime/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“We could choose to be a nation that extends care, compassion, and concern to those who are locked up and locked out or headed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/we-could-choose-to-be-a-nation-that-extends-care-compassion-and/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“As historian Lerone Bennett Jr. eloquently reminds us, 'A nation is a choice.' We could choose to be a nation that extends care, compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/as-historian-lerone-bennett-jr-eloquently-reminds-us-a-nation-is-a/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Certainly youth of color, particularly those in ghetto communities, find themselves born into the cage. They are born into a community in which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/certainly-youth-of-color-particularly-those-in-ghetto-communities/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Merely reducing prison terms does not have a major impact on the majority of people in the system. It is the badge of inferiority—the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/merely-reducing-prison-terms-does-not-have-a-major-impact-on-the/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“of the nearly 7.3 million people currently under correctional control, only 1.6 million are in prison.27 This caste system extends far beyond prison walls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/of-the-nearly-7-3-million-people-currently-under-correctional-control/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“More than 2 million people found themselves behind bars at the turn of the twenty-first century, and millions more were relegated to the margins…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/more-than-2-million-people-found-themselves-behind-bars-at-the-turn/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Once labeled a felon, you are ushered into a parallel social universe. You can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/once-labeled-a-felon-you-are-ushered-into-a-parallel-social-universe/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Felons are typically stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement, including the right to vote, the right to serve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-very-rights-supposedly-won-in/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) ## More by Michelle Alexander > [If you ask for good schools, you aren't likely to get them. If you ask for jobs or economic investment, you won't get that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-you-ask-for-good-schools-you-aren-t-likely-to-get-them-if-you-ask/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-uncomfortable-reality-we-must-face-is-that-california-like-the/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. 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That is a goal worth fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/that-was-king-s-dream-a-society-that-is-capable-of-seeing-each-of-us/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Activists take the risks, while advocates are professional tinkerers with the system. 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When you trap people in a system of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/students-who-acquire-large-debts-putting-themselves-through-school/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [There are 4 billion cell phones in use today. Many of them are in the hands of market vendors, rickshaw drivers, and others who've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/there-are-4-billion-cell-phones-in-use-today-many-of-them-are-in-the/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [“Adolescence is a period of life when the brain is malleable, and it represents a good opportunity for learning and social development. However, according…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-brockman/adolescence-is-a-period-of-life-when-the-brain-is-malleable-and-it/) [John Brockman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-brockman/) > [With broadband access, we can revolutionize global access to education, health care, economic empowerment, and the delivery of critical human needs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tae-yoo/with-broadband-access-we-can-revolutionize-global-access-to-education/) [Tae Yoo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tae-yoo/) > [In my travels all over the world, I have come to realize that what distinguishes one child from another is not ability, but access.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauryn-hill/in-my-travels-all-over-the-world-i-have-come-to-realize-that-what/) [Lauryn Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauryn-hill/) > [Felons are typically stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement, including the right to vote, the right to serve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-very-rights-supposedly-won-in/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [As the photographer, it's challenging to make images that read quickly and are powerful, but have enough humanity and compassion. 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