CRUEL AND INVISIBLE

The idea that one could be punished for life for stealing a couple of
library books may sound absurd, but it's a fact in Pennsylvania.
There, a sweeping law forever bans the thief from working in a nursing
home or with the elderly. In New York, a criminal conviction could ban
you for life from more than 100 different jobs, including plumbing and
barbering, even if you were a model prisoner and have long since
served your time.

In an effort to get tougher on crime, Congress and state legislatures
have been tacking onto court sentences so-called "invisible
punishments" as deterrents since 1990. But the laws have boomeranged,
leading ex-felons to reoffend because - by law - it's almost too tough
to do anything else.

For example, drug felons can't get federal student loans, welfare,
food stamps, a job in education. They can't vote in some states or,
among other things, even visit public housing. In Florida alone, more
than 600,000 residents could not cast a ballot in the 2000
presidential election because of their criminal records.

The idea of paying your debt to society and then moving on has been
displaced by lifetime penalties that are likely to achieve precisely
what is feared most: high crime and overcrowded prisons.

As of the end of 2002, a record 3.1 percent of U.S. adults were in
prison, federal data show. A University of Michigan study says nearly
7 percent of Americans have served prison time at some point in their
lives. That's roughly 13 million people.

A 15-state study by the U.S. Department of Justice found that more
than two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested within three
years. Erecting "invisible" barriers to a productive future apparently
is not an effective deterrent, but rather an invitation to a continued
life of crime.