Second Chance Reauthorization Act Analysis

Introduction
The Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2015 is a bill being proposed to Congress as a means to help support juvenile and adult individuals who have been incarcerated and have a difficult time reintegrating back into society after releasement. Taken after the Second Chance Act of 2007 that was signed in 2008, it will have similar efforts in essentially offering a “second chance” to these inmates and would help to reduce recidivism rates, reduce costs on the local and state level, and increase public safety. It would achieve these goals by redirecting expenditures and provide grants towards rehabilitative and drug abuse programs, career training, mental health treatment, and other various programs to help an inmate regain their …show more content…
The SCA also creates the National Adult and Juvenile Offender Reentry Resource Center. The Center will exist to collect data from existing programs about what practices have been the most effective to reduce recidivism rates and to rehabilitate ex-offenders. The Center will use this knowledge to educate states, local governments, corrections institutions, and non-profit organizations on these methods, including comprehensive training for their implementation. The SCA also requires the director of the Bureau of Prisons to establish a prisoner reentry program and a pilot program for the release of elderly nonviolent offenders (congree.gov). SCA was important because it increased the amount of time federal prisoners may receive in halfway houses and created a test program that allowed some elderly offenders to be released early, and authorized funding for reentry programs across the country. The goal of SCA was designed to help criminal offenders successfully return to the community after they are released from prison or jail. Through the SCA, the Bureau of Justice Assistance has awarded more than $250 million (grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations) to help medium and …show more content…
SCA lengthened the outer limits of the time an individual is guaranteed consideration for prerelease community corrections (halfway house) from six months to 12 months. However, the SCA did not require the Bureau of Prisons to give every federal prisoner a full 12 months in a halfway house at the end of their sentences (FAMM.org, what is the second chance act). The SCA gave the BOP discretion to place a prisoner in home confinement for six months or 10 percent of the whole term of imprisonment, whichever is less. Despite the fact that the per-day cost of placing a person in a halfway house is lower than the per-day cost of keeping a person in prison, the vast majority of prisoners continue to get no more than six months’ halfway house time. The SCA also created a limited pilot program called the Elderly and Family Reunification for Certain Nonviolent Offenders program. The program was only in effect for a short time and provided relief for a very small number of prisoners. Elderly program took effect October 2008 and ran through September 2010. About 885 inmates applied for the program but because of the strict criteria only 71 were ultimately released early from prison and put on home confinement. The criteria required an inmate to be older than 65, could not have been convicted of a violent crime or sex offense, had no

Show More

Related Documents: Second Chance Reauthorization Act Analysis

Pregnant And No Civil Rights