Second Chance Act of 2007 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Purpose

The Second Chance Act serves to reform the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968

Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968

The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 was legislation passed by the Congress of the United States that established the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration . Title III of the Act set rules for obtaining wiretap orders in the United States. It has been started shortly after...

.
The purpose of the Second Chance Act

Second Chance Act

Update: H.R. 2065, The Second Chance for Ex-Offenders Act of 2011Update: H.R. 1529, The Second Chance for Ex-Offenders Act of 2009On March 16, 2009, Congressman Charles B. Rangel [D-NY] sponsored and introduced The Second Chance for Ex-Offenders Act of 2009 [HR 1529] which would permit expungement...

is to reduce recidivism

Recidivism

Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior...

, increase public safety, and assist states and communities to address the growing population of inmates returning to communities. The focus has been placed on four areas: jobs, housing, substance abuse/mental health treatment and families.

History

On April 20, 2005 Representative Robert Portman (R-OH2) introduced H.R.4676 and Senator Samuel Brownback (R-KS) introduced S.2789 Second Chance Act 2005 during the 108th Congressional Session however both bills died in committee. During the 109th Congressional Legislative Session, Senator Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...

(D-PA) introduced S.1934 and Representative Robert Portman (R-OH2) reintroduced the Second Chance Act (2007) S 1934 without success. However, during the 110th Congressional Legislative Session, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Representative Danny K. Davis

Danny K. Davis

For other persons named Danny Davis, please see Daniel Davis .Daniel K. Davis is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...

(D-IL7) successfully ushered the passage of H.R.1593 Second Chance Act of 2007 receiving bipartisan support from 218 Democrats, 129 Republicans enacting the bill into legislation on April 9, 2008.

In 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy

Patrick Leahy

Patrick Joseph Leahy is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic United States Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator,...

(D-VT) introduced S.1231requesting reauthorization of the Second Chance Act during the 112th Congressional Legislative Session. Since that time, the submission has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar (July 21, 2011) where it has remained for further review. The Reauthorization of the Second Chance Act provides for the expansion of state and local reentry demonstration projects to provide expanded services to offenders and their families for reentry into society, as well as the necessary services to remain productive members of society.

As of July 2008, the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

appropriated $45 million while the Senate tentatively appropriated $20 million for grants authorized under the Act. The Second Chance Act provides a number of grants, over a two year period, to state and local government

Local government

Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

s in order to:

promote the safe and successful reintegration of offenders into the community upon their release,
provide employment services, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victim services, and methods to improve release and revocation,
provide mentoring services to adult and juvenile offenders,
implement family-based treatment programs for incarcerated parents who have minor children,
provide guidance to the Bureau of Prisons for enhanced reentry planning procedures,
provide information on health, employment, personal finance
Personal finance
Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future...

, release requirements and community resources

Recidivism

Each year, as approximately 650,000 people are released from state and federal prisons and between 10 and 12 million more are released from local jails, they struggle with substance abuse

Substance abuse

A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...

, lack of adequate education and job skills, and mental health

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

issues, and a large number of these people return to prison within three years of their release due to inadequate services and opportunities. Two-thirds of released inmates are expected to be rearrested for a felony

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

or serious misdemeanor within three years of release. Such high recidivism

Recidivism

rates translate into thousands of new crimes each year.

Jobs

The National Institute of Justice

National Institute of Justice

The National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics , Bureau of Justice Assistance , Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , Office for Victims of Crime ,...

Reports that 60 percent of former inmates remain jobless a year after their release because of their criminal records and the low literacy levels that hamper them in their search for employment.
Employment rates and earnings histories of people in prisons and jails are often low before incarceration as a result of limited education experiences, low skill levels, and the prevalence of physical and mental health problems; incarceration only exacerbates these challenges.

Housing

Current laws deny housing to former offenders with drug-related convictions. A report by Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

, No Second Chance , focuses on the unfairness of the one-strike policy in public housing. More than 10 percent of those entering prisons and jails are homeless in the months before their incarceration. For those with mental illness the rates reach 20 percent. Released prisoners with a history of shelter use were almost five times as likely to have a post-release shelter stay.

Substance abuse/mental health treatment

Over a fourth of all offenses are drug-related and over 70 percent of the recidivists return to prison with drug or alcohol problems, in part because little treatment has been made available during earlier incarceration and little was made available after their release.
In a study of more than 20,000 adults entering five local jails, researchers documented serious mental illness in 14.5 percent of the men and 31 percent of the women, which taken together, comprises 16.9 percent of those studied. The incidence of serious mental illness is two to four times higher among prisoners that it is in the general population.

Measures

The Second Chance Act

Second Chance Act

legislation authorizes federal grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide employment assistance, housing, substance abuse treatment, family programming, mentoring, victim’s support and other related services that help reduce recidivism . The Second Chance Act

Second Chance Act

also establishes the National Offender Re-entry Resource Center for the purpose of managing, monitoring, and disseminating information to the service providers and community organizations delivering services under the Second Chance Act

Second Chance Act

Funding History

	Budget Request	Senate	House	Final
FY2009	N/A	$20 million	$45 million	$25 million
FY2010	$100 million	$50 million	$100 million	$100 million
FY2011	$100 million	$50 million	$10 million	$70 million

Quotes

"We know from long experience that if they can't find work, or a home or help, they are much more likely to commit more crimes and return to prison.” (George W. Bush, 2004)

Purpose

History

Recidivism

Jobs

Housing

Substance abuse/mental health treatment

Measures

Funding History

Quotes

See Also