| ABOUT
THE AFTERLIVES OF CONVICTION PROJECT IS A RESEARCH-BASED PUBLIC EDUCATION INITIATIVE EXPLORING THE HUMAN IMPACT OF CRIMINAL CONVICTION.
Through the lens of employment, the project aims to deepen understanding of the lasting effects of conviction and examine the systems, policies, and practices that uphold the discriminatory use of criminal records. In collaboration with people and organizations working to increase work opportunities, the project seeks pivot points between academic research and on-the-ground work, making scholarship available to organizers, educators, and policymakers in accessible and useful ways.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Afterlives of Conviction website features core insights generated from ethnographic research conducted by anthropologist Dr. Melissa Burch. Burch's initial study beginning in 2014 engaged local business owners, hiring managers, HR professionals, and job seekers with felony convictions in southern California to examine the use of background checks in hiring (The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America). Additional studies have explored grassroots approaches to prisoner (re)entry, enduring conviction-based employment discrimination, and barriers facing formerly incarcerated firefighters.
PEOPLE
RESEARCH AND DESIGN
Assistant Professor of Anthropology,
University of Michigan
Director, Afterlives of Conviction Project
Multidisciplinary designer and researcher passionate about using participatory design to increase accessibility and equity. Graduate of The New School in Integrated Design & Global Studies.
Political Science Ph.D. Student at the University of Michigan whose research focuses on state sanctioned and fostered structural and physical violence.
Illustrator, comic artist and arts educator from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Currently studying Art & Design at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS
Reentry and criminal records litigator.
![Susan - 2021 (March [2]).jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/bd5e09_20188ca52a4c492e9619c0b997e26b3b~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_1349,y_100,w_1981,h_2020/fill/w_245,h_250,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Susan%20-%202021%20(March%20%5B2%5D).jpg)
Founder and President,
A New Way of Life Reentry Project.
Reentry employment advocate, Deputy Executive Director, California at Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO).