Over the last decade, dozens of states and the federal government have enacted “second chance” reforms that increase the eligibility of individuals arrested, charged, or convicted of crimes to shorten their sentences, clear their criminal records, and/or regain the right to vote. While much fanfare has accompanied the increasing availability of “second chances,” little attention has been paid to their delivery. This study introduces the concept of the “second chance gap,” which it defines as the difference between eligibility and delivery of second chance relief; explores its causes; and approximates its size in connection with several second chance laws and initiatives. Using administrative and other data, it finds that among a host of petition-based second chance opportunities, to shorten sentences, restore one’s vote, and clear one’s criminal convictions, only a small fraction (less than 10 percent) of those eligible for relief actually received it. Extrapolating based on a novel analysis of around sixty thousand criminal histories of persons primarily seeking gigeconomy work and of the expungement laws governing nonconvictions of all fifty states applying the nonconviction expungement laws of all fifty states to around sixty thousand criminal histories of persons primarily seeking gigeconomy work, this study estimates that at least twenty to thirty million

中文翻译：

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美国的纸质监狱：第二次机会差距

在过去十年中，数十个州和联邦政府实施了“第二次机会”改革，提高了被逮捕、指控或被判有罪的个人的资格，以缩短刑期、清除犯罪记录和/或重新获得投票。尽管随着“第二次机会”的增加而大肆宣传，但很少有人关注它们的交付。本研究引入了“第二次机会差距”的概念，将其定义为第二次机会救济的资格和交付之间的差异；探究其原因；并根据几项第二次机会法律和倡议来近似其规模。使用行政和其他数据，它发现在大量基于请愿的第二次机会中，缩短刑期、恢复投票、并清除一个人的刑事定罪，只有一小部分（不到 10%）有资格获得救济的人实际收到了它。根据对主要寻求经济工作的人的大约 6 万份犯罪历史和适用所有五十个州的非定罪清除法的所有五十个州的非定罪清除法的新分析推断，主要寻求经济工作的人的大约六万份犯罪历史，这项研究估计至少有 20 到 3000 万