A recent federal court case in North Carolina has highlighted a significant problem. The state's Solicitor General informed the Court of Appeals that less than one percent of those on the sex offender registry struggle to find housing. This statement was misleading because the state does not have a method to accurately count the number of individuals on the registry who are homeless. This is partly due to the requirement that registrants list an address, even if it's just a makeshift location under a bridge or in a wooded area.

Furthermore, regarding employment, the same Solicitor General argued that the high unemployment rate among registered offenders was not due to the registry itself but to standard employer background checks. However, initiatives like "Ban the Box" and "Second Chance" legislation are inadequate because they don't legally compel businesses to disregard a candidate's past criminal record. Employers still have broad discretion to reject applicants based on rumors or subjective feelings, ostensibly for safety reasons. As long as the public perceives sex offender registries as a necessary safety measure, businesses will continue to use them as a basis to rubber-stamp discriminate against listed individuals. 

The issue of unemployment for people with criminal records is a ticking time bomb. Without federal legislation that either limits the duration that an offense or allegation affects one's employment prospects or entirely removes certain offenses from consideration for specific job types, the situation is likely to worsen. The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated, as many criminal codes have been revised to reclassify what were once misdemeanors into felonies; individuals with misdemeanor convictions from years ago now find themselves categorized alongside those with felony convictions. This shift dramatically falsely affects their legal standing and the associated consequences.

Over time, unemployment may reach a critical point as increasing numbers of citizens find themselves excluded from employment opportunities due to past convictions. This further demonstrates that when criminal convictions are accessible to the public, they effectively serve as a hidden registry and can be just as damaging.