Employment!
I tried to go the crypto consultant route in recent years and was told by many people via Twitter/Reddit private message that they can't or won't go with the company I helped start simply because of my criminal background.
I spent most of last year job-searching. I interviewed well, but many companies rescinded offers after my background check concluded, even when I told them about this incident up front.
In 2011, everyone joked that I'd be fine. "The government will probably follow up with a job offer," they insisted. Instead, I was rendered unemployable by most of the companies that desire the skills I possess.
The silver lining is that some companies restrict their background checks to a time-gate, which means it's not totally impossible to make a living. But they're the minority.
> Is it directly related to the charges or is it the outcome of spending time behind bars?
My sentence was probation and a short duration of house arrest, community service, and paying Sylint $9,370 (which, at barely above minimum wage, took a few years). My probation was terminated early for good behavior.
The problem has less to do with the courts and more to do with background checks.
People make mistakes. Especially young people. (I was 21 when this happened.)
Learning itself is a messy process that often requires making mistakes to be successful.
Punishing someone in perpetuity for having not lived a perfect life is a problem that society hasn't yet solved.
We have hacks ("Right to be Forgotten") to try to alleviate some of the symptoms, but with the advent of the Internet, there is now a public, immutable record of your most embarrassing fuck-ups. And I don't think we were ready for that.