The Second Chance Act aims to reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and help states and communities to better address the growing population of prisoners returning to communities. The House bill (HR 1704) focuses on four areas: jobs, housing, substance abuse/mental health treatment, and families.

Prisoner Reentry: The Case for Action

Crime Reduction – Nearly two-thirds of released prisoners are expected to be rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of release. Such high recidivism rates translate into thousands of new crimes each year, at least half of which can be averted through improved prisoner reentry efforts. In 2002, 2 million people were incarcerated in Federal or State prisons. Nearly 650,000 people are released from prison to communities nationwide each year.

Substance Abuse/Mental Health Problems – Seventy to eighty percent of offenders re-entering the community have histories of substance abuse. An increasing number of offenders have mental health problems. If the treatment is not sought or available upon release, relapse is likely. Fifty-seven percent of federal and 70 percent of state inmates used drugs regularly before prison, with some estimates of involvement with drugs/alcohol around the time of the offense as high as 84 percent (BJS Trends in State Parole, 1990 – 2000).

Saving Taxpayer Dollars – Significant portions of state budgets are now invested in the criminal justice system. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, expenditures on corrections alone increased from $9 billion in 1982 to $44 billion in 1997. These figures do not include the cost of arrest and prosecution, nor do they take into account the cost to victims.

Strengthening Families and Communities – One of the most significant costs of prisoner reentry is the impact on children and communities. Between 1991 and 1999, the number of children with a parent in a Federal or State correctional facility increased by more than 100 percent, from approximately 900,000 to approximately 2,000,000.

Reducing Recidivism through Common Sense Solutions

• Demonstration Grants. The Second Chance Act reauthorizes the Re-Entry Demonstration project with an enhanced focus on jobs, housing, substance abuse treatment/mental health, and children and families. The bill increases the amount of money to fund demonstration programs and create performance outcomes standards and deliverables.

• National Offender Re-Entry Resource Center. Establishes a resource center for states, local government, service providers, faith-based organization, corrections and community organizations to collect and disseminate best practices and provide training and support around reentry.

• Federal Taskforce. Creates a federal interagency taskforce to identify programs and resources on re-entry, identify ways to better collaborate, develop interagency initiatives and a national re-entry research agenda. The taskforce would review and report to Congress on the federal barriers that exist to successful re-entry with recommendations.

• Offender Re-Entry Research. Authorizes the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics to conduct research around re-entry.

• Mentoring Grants to Nonprofit Organizations: Establishes a grant program to provide funding for nonprofit organizations to provide mentoring and transitional services to adult and juvenile offenders.

• Carlie's Law: In response to Carlie Brucia's abduction and murder in 2004, the provision requires the automatic revocation of probation or supervised release when a federal felon commits a felony crime of violence against a minor child under the age of 16.