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The Norwegian system is actually much cheaper than the American system when you account for lower recidivism rates and reduced prison sentences.

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Is there a stigma that haunts former inmates upon release? In the US it seems ones career is essentially over once convicted of anything more than a traffic violation.

It's the same in the nordics. Most jobs check for a criminal record, even in smaller IT companies.

At least in Sweden, the outcome of being sentenced (losing your job, making it very hard to find a new one) is factored into the sentence (that is, they decrease the prison sentence due to these factors as more punishment will be had after release).

In Denmark it would be illegal for an employer to discriminate against former inmates _if their crime is irrelevant for the job at hand_.

In practice, though... At least it's automatically erased after (IIRC) five years, depending on severity.

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