Last week, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued a ruling that sent a small shockwave through the criminal-justice world. Rather than sentencing a woman who had been convicted of smuggling more than a pound of cocaine into the United States to a few years in prison, Judge Frederic Block opted for extraordinary leniency and gave her probation. Block’s rationale was simple enough: The “collateral consequences” of being a convicted felon are punishment enough.

Quoting experts on American incarceration, Block laid out how having a conviction (or even a minor brush with the law) on one’s record often makes it difficult to secure housing, public assistance, and a good education. “Remarkably, there are nationwide nearly 50,000 federal and state statutes and regulations that impose penalties, disabilities, or disadvantages on convicted felons,” hewrote in the 42-page opinion.

[For more of this story, written by Adam Chandler, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/bus...incarcerated/484919/]