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Collateral Consequences
Written By Emily Blackshire-Giel, EJW Housing Fellow Attorney Edited by Dontae James, EJW Housing Justice Fellow The impact of having a criminal record can permeate into every part of a person’s life. Over the next month, we’ll be exploring the different ways the criminal justice system makes it difficult for individuals to stabilize and return…
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Welcome to the first feature in our South Carolina Housing Stories project! In this series, we will be talking with advocates, community members, and more about housing issues in South Carolina and discuss the need for housing investments in our state. For our first story, we sat down with Kieley Sutton, a public defender at…
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Last Monday, a police officer in Minneapolis senselessly killed George Floyd by kneeling on his throat for nine minutes. Since then, countless people have peacefully protested this injustice across dozens of states and the consequences have been heartbreaking. In many places, law enforcement has responded with excessive force, needlessly escalated tension, and used careless, brutal…
Read MoreIt’s not often that we see a news story that brings together two separate worlds in South Carolina: college sports and collateral consequences. But thanks to a faulty road-side drug test, bird poop, and a division one football quarterback, these two worlds came clashing together late last month. One July night in Saluda County Late…
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Each Month, SC Appleseed partners with the Columbia VA Health Care System, Nelson Mullins and volunteer attorneys from across the Midlands to hold a free legal clinic, Lawyers 4 Vets, for Veterans in the Columbia area. Lawyers 4 Vets connects low-income Veterans with attorneys who provide legal advice and representation on a range of issues.…
Read MoreNearly 1 in 3 Americans has a criminal record, with even minor offenses carrying a stigma. With nearly 9 in 10 employers, 4 in 5 landlords, and 3 in 5 colleges screening criminal background checks, this can bring a life sentence of poverty. We believe that people with criminal records paid their debt to society…
Read MoreAbout one in three Americans have some sort of criminal record, ranging from simple arrests to actual convictions. As any job-seeker or apartment-hunter knows, more and more employers and landlords are using background checks. Nearly 90% of employers and 80% of landlords run some sort of background check on potential employees or tenants. If you…
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Coverage of the 2016 legislative session focused on a small number of high profile issues, but all the while here at South Carolina Appleseed we were working on several lesser known but very important bills which were enacted into law. These laws are not only great public policy; they will also help the communities we…
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It’s no secret that a criminal record has a major impact in many areas of life: the ability to find a good job and being able to support yourself and your family, the ability to find safe and affordable housing, and the reality of facing the lifelong stigma of having a criminal record. Since we…
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On February 16, 2016, Governor Haley signed into law S. 255, a bill sponsored by Senator Paul Thurmond (R). The bill – sometimes referred to as the “Mug Shot Extortion Bill” – is designed to address businesses that make money from publishing mug shots and arrest records. In addition, S. 255 makes important changes to…
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