second chance act(s)
people have been asking me lately about the status of the "second chance act" for ex-felons. i confess to a bit of confusion. as i understand it, however, there are currently two "second chance acts" before congress.representative danny davis' (d-il) "second chance act of 2007" (hr 1593) would reauthorize the grant program for reentry of offenders into the community in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, to improve reentry planning and implementation, and for other purposes. this bill would provide funds for reentry programming and research.
representative charles rangel's (d-ny) "second second chance act" (hr 623) would permit expungement of records of certain nonviolent criminal offenses. expungement is a simple idea, but it has been extremely time- and resource-intensive in practice. hr 623 would make it easier for non-violent first offenders who have served their time to clear their names without expensive legal assistance. expungement would reinstate civil rights, expanding opportunities for housing, education, employment and voting.
i'm interested in both second chance acts as a citizen and as a researcher. what are their chances?
posted by christopher uggen @ 11:40 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Personally, I don't think denying prisoners their political rights helps anyone, it serves to isolate them and probably makes it more likely that they'll re-offend.
In the UK there's a system for removing police cautions given to those under 18 when they reach 18, but having a criminal record certainly reduces the chances of getting work and again probably leads people back towards committing criminal offences.
The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out its version of the Second Chance Act yesterday. The bill had support from both sides, as you can tell from the cosponsors of the legislation. Here is the bill number and the list of Committee sponsors - S. 1060, Recidivism Reduction & Second Chance Act of 2007
(Biden, Specter, Brownback, Leahy, Kennedy, Schumer, Whitehouse, Durbin). The discussion of the bill sounded like a crim class in some ways as the Senators discussed recidivism rates and reentry statistics. I think they are starting to understand that locking people up isn't the answer. Hopefully, after the recess they will take further action on the bill!
leftwing, there are many in the states who share your opinions.
mischelle, thanks for the authoritative update! i hope you'll keep us posted. it sure is nice to hear that our crim classes are starting to penetrate political discourse on crime.
How much do you think problems such as institutional or color-blind racism may be contained in the U.S. criminal justice system? I would postulate that an inverse relationship exists between the degree of racism present in the criminal justice system and the probability of such legislation passing.
Businesses and employers also gain power from their legal ability to practice selective hiring based on criminal history. A solution might to eliminate the minimum wage so that employers will hire ex-felons at a low enough wage [e.g., Joan Robinson's theory that people will work for a lower wage rather than no wage].
Such issues may make the passage of legislation that expunges criminal records improbable.
FYI, the Second Chance Act (HR 1593) is up for a vote in the House on Tuesday, November 13.
http://www.majorityleader.gov/links_and_resources/whip_resources/weeklyleader.cfm?pressreleaseID=2091
I am concerned about the impact the signing of HR 1593 will have or have on HR 623. I believe HR 623 helps more people then HR 1593. I must add I don't understand much regarding the implications signing one version will have on another, can someone help me with a explanation. My dad is an ex-offender. Over 20 yrs ago he got in trouble, he has not been in trouble since yet he lost the right to vote forever. Where is the justice in that? where is our compasion? in this great country.
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