While Republicans and Democrats are divided on many issues, a few leaders set have aside their differences to push for criminal justice reform.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) teamed up with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) to re-introduce the Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act (REDEEM) in order to smooth the transition from prison to employment.
The act targets problems in the “broken” criminal justice system, and sets seven reforms aimed to give nonviolent drug offenders a second chance in society. According to Paul’s press release, the reforms are as follows:
2) Automatically seal and, in some cases, expunge juvenile records;
3) Incentivize states to raise the age of adult criminal responsibility to 18 years old;
4) Significantly restrict room confinement of juveniles;
5) Lift the lifetime SNAP and TANF bans on people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes;
6) Combat gender disparities in the federal juvenile system; and
7) Improve the accuracy of the FBI background check system.
The bill sponsors believe this act would reduce prison costs, chance of recidivism, and increase employment.
“As a nation, our goal for those leaving incarceration should be to help their successful and productive reintegration into society,” Rep. Cummings said. “The REDEEM Act helps ease barriers that too often hold people back as they attempt to re-establish their lives outside prison. These reforms will help to provide a second chance for jobs and housing for those working to move beyond their criminal record.”
This bill is similar to Louisiana’s criminal justice reform overhaul in mid-June that reduced and eliminated some mandatory minimums, eased ex-convict access to business licenses, and increased prison working opportunities, among other things.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the 10-bill criminal package that is proposed to cut state prison population by 10 percent and save $262 million within 10 years. The state’s incarceration rate was almost 13 times that of China’s, and cost almost $700 million last year.
Almost $184 million, 70 percent of the projected savings from the change, will be diverted to prison programs to reduce recidivism.
Edwards acknowledged that many recidivism problems stem from inability to find work. An Ella Baker Center for Human Rights survey found that 76 percent of former inmates said finding employment was incredibly hard after release and nearly two-thirds responded that they were unemployed, or underemployed 5 years after release.
While the REDEEM Act may not pass, it is one of many movements sweeping across the country to enact change to a more prosperous United States. Criminal justice reform would give many American adults with a criminal history and the 2.3 million currently incarcerated a second chance.
