Publications

"Redemption" in an Era of Widespread Criminal Background Checks
NIJ Journal (2009)

Is it possible to determine empirically when it is no longer necessary for an employer to be concerned about a criminal offense in a prospective employee's past?

1 in 31, The Long Reach of Corrections
The Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project (2009)

The number of people on probation or parole has skyrocketed to more than 5 million, up from 1.6 million just 25 years ago. This means that 1 in 45 adults in the United States is now under criminal justice supervision in the community, and that combined with those in prison and jail, a stunning 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2 percent, is under some form of correctional control.

2007 Policy Guide on Homelessness
National Alliance to End Homelessness (2007)

The National Alliance to End Homelessness has published a Policy Guide to help policymakers and advocates understand federal programs and policies regarding housing and homelessness. The 63-page guide includes information about relevant federal programs and proposals, including homelessness funding, proposals to reauthorize HUD’s McKinney-Vento homeless assistance programs, and information about funding levels of mainstream housing and services programs.

A Best Practice Approach to Community Re-entry from Jails for Inmates with Co-occurring Disorders: The APIC Model
(2002)

Almost all jail inmates with mental illness will leave correctional settings and return to the community. Inadequate transition planning puts jail inmates who entered the jail in a state of crisis back on the streets in the middle of the same crisis. The outcomes of inadequate transition planning include the compromise of public safety, an increased incidence of psychiatric symptoms, hospitalization, relapse to substance abuse, suicide, homelessness, and rearrest. Although there are no outcomes studies to guide evidence-based transition-planning practices, there is enough guidance from the multisite studies of the organization of jail mental health programs to create a best practice model. This article presents one such model: the APIC model.

A Better Life - A Safer Community: Helping Inmates Access Federal Benefits
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (2003)

This paper discusses access to federal benefit programs for adults with serious mental illnesses and juveniles with serious mental or emotional disorders leaving jail, prison, juvenile detention or other correctional institutions.

A Decade of Reform: Felony Disenfranchisement Policy in the United States
The Sentencing Project (2006)

Over the course of its history, the United States has continued to strive for universal suffrage. Through litigation and legislation, as well as the tireless work of many advocates, the United States has made great strides to extend the vote to an expanding proportion of its population. Despite these reforms, there remain 5.3 million Americans prohibited from voting due to prior criminal behavior. In 48 states and the District of Columbia, persons in prison for a felony conviction are denied the right to vote.

A Guide to Reentry Supportive Housing
The Corporation for Supportive Housing (2002)

A Three-Part Primer for Non-profit Supportive Housing Developers, Social Service Providers, and Their Government Partners

A Higher Hurdle: Barriers to Employment for Formerly Incarcerated Women
Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, UC Berkeley School of Law (2008)

A Higher Hurdle: Barriers to Employment for Incarcerated Women found that a criminal record has a negative impact on employment opportunities of women. Formerly incarcerated women are significantly less likely than non-formerly incarcerated women to receive a positive response (5.5% vs. 8.0%, respectively) from potential employers and face a number of mental, financial, and physical barriers to seeking and retaining employment.

A Model for Judicial Leadership: Community Responses to Juvenile Substance Abuse
Reclaiming Futures National Fellowship Report (2006)

Drawing on the collective experience of Reclaiming Futures, this paper provides information and guidance on the following points: The evolving nature of the judicial role in systemic and community responses to juveniles involved with drugs, alcohol, and crime; the role of the judge as a convenor and collaborator in system change; adapting the principles of problem-solving courts to the creation of an integrated system of care for juveniles involved with substance abuse in the juvenile justice system.

A Program Model for Prisoner Re-Entry

The Transition from Prison to Community Initiative (TPCI) offers states a plan for reintegrating ex-offenders into the community following their release.

A Roadmap for Effective Offender Programming in California
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (2007)

This Report to the California State Legislature: A Roadmap for Effective Offender Programming in California provides an assessment of the state of correctional programming in California’s adult prison and parole systems. This report also includes recommendations intended to guide California in creating a model rehabilitation programming system.

A Sneak Peek: Advice for State Policymakers on Designing Strategies That Improve Employment Outcomes and Increase Public Safety

This publication provides a preview of an upcoming blueprint, made possible through the support of DOL and private foundations, to promote employment opportunities for people returning from prison or jail and others in neighborhoods that struggle with high crime, poverty, substance abuse, and other challenges.

ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions: Policy Recommendations and Reports
American Bar Association (2006)

The Commission has submitted for consideration by the ABA House six reports with recommendations. The reports deal with 1) alternatives to incarceration and conviction; 2) improvements in parole and probation supervision; 3) employment and licensure of convicted persons; 4) access to and use of criminal records for non-law enforcement purposes; 5) representation relating to collateral consequences; and 6) training in the exercise of discretion.

ABA Summary of 2006 Recommendations
American Bar Association (2006)

Based upon the information gathered at its hearings and other research, the American Bar Association's Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions developed policy recommendations in six issue areas that are being presented to the House of Delegates for adoption as ABA policy: • Alternatives to Incarceration and Conviction for Less Serious Offenders • Improvements in Probation and Parole Supervision • Employment and Licensure of Persons with a Criminal Record • Access to and Use of Criminal History Information for Non-Law Enforcement Purposes • Legal Representation Regarding Collateral Consequences • Training in the Exercise of Discretion

Adding Crime Victims to the Re-entry Equation
CorrectionsToday (2003)

Many of today’s policy-makers and justice professionals recognize the importance of continually improving systemic responses to crime. Although a realistic solution for eliminating crime may never be found, there are ways to continue improving the correctional response to crime on behalf of victims, offenders and all citizens.

Administrative Guide: Offender Workforce Development Specialist Partnership Training Program
National Institute of Corrections (2007)

This publication describes a training program that provides participants with the skills needed to assist offenders with career planning, job placement, job retention, and career advancement. The training described is provided upon formal application, by invitation only, from a primary sponsoring agency.

Adolescent and Teenage Offenders Confronting the Challenges and Opportunities of Reentry
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice (2004)

This article examines the challenges of reentry for teenage and youthful offenders. It discusses (a) reentry within a broader "reintegration" paradigm; (b) the mission and purpose of institutional and community corrections, as well as the tensions between them; (c) the intersection of chronological age and legal status; (d) the intersection of chronological age and stages of development; (e) risk and protective factors; and (f) the seven specific domains of reentry: family and living arrangement, peer groups, mental and physical health, education, vocational training and employment, substance abuse, and leisure and avocational interests. Particular attention is given to the need for reentry policies to be developmentally appropriate and age-specific. Finally, the article closes by discussing the implications for reentry policy.

AFTER PRISON: ROADBLOCKS TO REENTRY
Legan Action Center (2004)

This report summarizes the findings of an exhaustive two-year study by the Legal Action Center (LAC) of the legal obstacles that people with criminal records face when they attempt to reenter society and become productive, law-abiding citizens. Our research found that people with criminal records seeking reentry face a daunting array of counterproductive, debilitating and unreasonable roadblocks in almost every important aspect of life.

Agency Relations: Social Network Dynamics and The RWJF Reclaiming Futures Initiative
Urban Institute (2008)

This report analyzes the relationships between key government agencies working to improve services for drug-involved young offenders in communities that are part of the Robert Wood Johnson Reclaiming Futures initiative. The report looks at Anchorage, Alaska; Santa Cruz, California; an area of southeastern Kentucky; Marquette, Michigan; several areas in New Hampshire; Dayton, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington. The analysis suggests that collaboration between agencies increased in the Reclaiming Futures communities.

Aggravated Sentencing: Blakely v. Washington: Legal Considerations for State Sentencing Systems
Vera Institute of Justice, State Sentencing and Corrections Policy and Practice Review (2005)

As Blakely continues to sow confusion and anxiety in many quarters of the criminal justice world, it is worth noting that much of the reported chaos has been confined to the federal system. Federal appeals courts have responded to the decision in contradictory ways that have left unsettled the fate of many criminal defendants.