Legal Commentary

Bush to Sign "Second Chance Act" Wednesday

By Jeralyn

Congress passed the Second Chance Act providing support services for prisoners re-entering society a few weeks ago. It's been floating around Congress since 2005.

President Bush will sign the bill into law on Wednesday at a Rose Garden ceremony.

The "get tough on crime" policies of the 1970's and 80's have come home to roost.

Today, as a legacy of those policies, not only are record numbers incarcerated, but also about 700,000 state and federal prisoners are released annually, many of them with little education or employment prospects and destined to be imprisoned again within a few years.

In a sharp change in attitudes about incarceration, many states and private groups have recently experimented with “re-entry” programs to help released prisoners fit back into their communities and avoid new crime.

The bill passed easily with support from members of both parties. [More...]

The act authorizes $165 million in spending per year, including matching grants to state and local governments and nongovernmental groups to experiment with efforts like more schooling and drug treatment inside prison and aid with housing, employment and the building of family and community ties after release.

It also directs the Justice Department to step up research on re-entry issues and establishes a national Reentry Resource Center to promote successful approaches and provide training.

It's about time we recognized that it's better to be smart about crime rather than just tough on crime. What turned the tide?

The new push to help prisoners reintegrate into society has been driven in part by financial concerns: states cannot afford to keep building more prisons. It also reflects concern for the victims of repeat offenders and for the wasted lives of the offenders themselves, who are disproportionately black and from neighborhoods of concentrated poverty.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 08, 2008 (boomark / email).