Obama bans the box!

On Monday, President Obama is announcing a new order to reduce potential discrimination against former convicts in the hiring process for federal government employees.

It is a step towards what many criminal justice reformers call “ban the box” – the effort to eliminate requirements that job applicants check a box on their applications if they have a criminal record. While the rule was once seen as a common sense way for employers to screen for criminal backgrounds, it has been increasingly criticized as a hurdle that fosters employment discrimination against former inmates, regardless of the severity of their offense or how long ago it occurred. Banning the box delays when employers learn of an applicant’s record.

Obama is unveiling the plan on a visit to a treatment center in New Jersey, a state where Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed a ban the box bill into law last year. Hillary Clinton endorsed ban the box last week, while Republican Sen. Rand Paul also introduced similar federal legislation, with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, to seal criminal records for non-violent offenders.

The White House says it is “encouraged” by such legislation in a new statement, but emphasizes the president’s order will take immediate action, mandating that the federal government’s HR department “delay inquiries into criminal history until later in the hiring process.”

President Obama spoke to several federal prisoners about that very approach in July, when he was the first sitting president to visit an American prison.

“If the disclosure of a criminal record happens later in a job application process,” he told them, “you’re more likely to be hired.” Obama described what many studies show – that when many employers see the box checked for an applicant’s criminal record, they weed them out without ever looking at their qualifications.

“If they have a chance to at least meet you,” the president continued, “you’re able to talk to them about your life, what you’ve done, maybe they give you a chance.”

About 60-to-75% of former inmates cannot find work within their first year out of jail, according to the Justice Department, a huge impediment to re-entering society.

Research shows the existence of a criminal record can reduce an employer’s interest in applicant by about 50%, and that when white and black applicants both have records, employers are far less likely to call back a black applicant than a white one. As a 2009 re-entry study in New York city found, “the criminal record penalty suffered by white applicants (30%) is roughly half the size of the penalty for blacks with a record (60%).”

Obama’s move also comes in the wake of a growing movement for criminal justice reform – from broad calls by groups like Black Lives Matter to a specific campaign on ban the box that ranged from half the Senate Democratic caucus to civil rights groups to artists like John Legend.

On Monday, Legend told MSNBC, “We applaud the President’s decision to end this unfair bias against people who have served their time and paid their debt to society. We hope that Congress and state legislatures across the country will follow suit.”

The President is announcing several other measures Monday, including public housing and money for re-entry programs, and he is speaking about prison reform in a speech and an exclusive interview with NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt.

Via: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-bans-the-box 

President Obama Promoting Criminal Justice Reform

This month we saw President Obama visit a prison in El Reno, Oklahoma, making him the first ever sitting president to visit a federal correctional facility. The effects of the recent initiatives made by both him and his administration to promote our nations need for criminal justice reform are already proving their indispensability for the roughly seven million Americans who are either currently incarcerated or on probation or parole. (htt)

For the first time in our Nation’s history, criminal justice reform, fairer sentencing, and a reduction in government spending on prisons and mass incarceration has become a bipartisan issue. In a recent USA today article, Republican House Speaker John Boehner backed prison reform legislation on the basis of U.S. expenses stating, “Some of these people are in there under what I would call flimsy reasons. And so I think it’s time we review this process.” (htt1)

 We live in a nation that thrives on the prison industrial complex, and because of that we are the leading country in mass incarceration at 25%. (htt3)

Our criminal justice system does very little for drug related offenders in regards to rehabilitation, recovery, and re-entry, and instead operates through outdated and largely ineffective policies and procedures that are reminiscent of Reagan era War on Drugs ideologies and misconceptions.

President Obama has proved in his recent initiatives that our response to nonviolent offenders should reflect a preventative and rehabilitative nature, instead of the punitive and borderline vindictive sentencing that this particular prison demographic has been facing for nearly four decades. Through signing the Fair Sentencing Act, to the Justice Departments “Smart on Crime” initiative, to commuting the extensive sentences of nearly four dozen non-violent offenders, a change is finally becoming evident.

At Time for Change Foundation we believe in the value of potential of the human being and that treatment, not punishment is the solution. We are people that have made mistakes in our past, and are thankful for second chances!

As prioritized by the President, “we’re just at the beginning of this process, and we need to make sure that we stay with it.” (htt4)

For many of us we are far from the beginning; we have poured out sweat, blood, and tears to get to where we are today playing tremendous roles in our justice system. And although we still have a long way to go, we will not give up or lose heart. We must stay active and aware of what is being done and continue our fight for fair, supportive, and rehabilitative policies and practices that promote healthy families and thriving communities. 

By: Abry Elmassian, Intern

Time for Change Foundation

Law Enforcement, Health Advocates, and Members of Congress Push to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails

WASHINGTON, DC—Not long ago, Paton Blough stood before a class of law enforcement officers to teach them effective ways to intervene with people with mental health needs. It’s a topic Blough knows all too well: He’s been arrested six times, in each instance while experiencing a mental health crisis. He remembers one arresting officer who wanted to help him.

“If there would have been an opportunity to take me some place besides an ER or a jail, he would’ve loved to have taken it,” Paton told a crowded room during a Capitol Hill briefing last week. “We’ve got to get behind these programs that prevent problems, improve lives and save us money while making the communities safer.”

Programs that can help reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails, ranging from police training to certified peer support, are the basis for a new wave of national efforts highlighted Tuesday as Congressional leaders joined the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and the National Association of Counties (NACo) to discuss potential federal reforms and a new national initiative driven by the two organizations.

The briefing, which featured remarks from U.S. Sen. Al Franken (MN-D) and U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent (R-FL), underscored bipartisan commitment to prioritize this issue for the 114th Congress, highlighted successful local efforts, and introduced a new national initiative emphasizing state-local collaboration and targeted action on the ground level.

“This is a moral issue and an economics issue,” said Sen. Franken. “When we use our jails to warehouse people with mental illnesses, we burden the judicial system, the public health system, our law enforcement offices, and the taxpayers. In confronting this problem, we know that some of the most innovative solutions come from our local communities. It’s our job to make sure they’re properly supported.”

Rep. Nugent added: “Senator Franken and I are probably a couple of odd fellows because on most of instances we won’t agree. But on this one we do agree, and this is where bipartisanship really has to come together. We have the ability to change where we go forward … This is one area that the federal government can actually make an impact on the people we represent, a typically unrepresented population.”

NACo and the CSG Justice Center, together with other leaders in behavioral health and criminal justice, also discussed plans for an unprecedented effort to lower the number of people with mental illnesses in jails by improving access to effective mental health and co-occurring substance use treatment, strengthening criminal justice collaborations with behavioral health stakeholders, and advancing public safety goals.

“Counties are working to reduce the number of people with behavioral health and substance abuse needs in jails across the country,” said NACo Executive Director Matthew Chase. “This cutting-edge initiative will help counties focus on results and take their efforts to the next level. It will support action-oriented, comprehensive strategies to provide needed services in appropriate settings.”

The problem is clear: Jails in this country have replaced in-patient mental health facilities as the largest institutional treatment provider for adults with mental illnesses. Each year, more than 2 million people with serious mental illnesses are booked into jails, as well as millions more coping with less serious mental illnesses that jails are required to address. The majority of these individuals also have co-occurring substance use disorders, increasing their chances of staying longer in jail and being reincarcerated following their release.

The centerpiece of the initiative is a “Call to Action,” in which county leaders commit to a concrete, multi-step planning and implementation process that is supported by state policymakers, behavioral health and criminal justice practitioners, and other stakeholders to help achieve measurable results. The Call to Action will be launched in spring 2015.

John Wetzel, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and a member of the CSG Justice Center’s Board of Directors, provided closing remarks at the event, where he urged public officials and other stakeholders to “step up and do the right thing” regarding individuals and offenders with mental illnesses.

“Prisons were not designed to treat individuals with mental disorders, but the courts send these offenders to us and we must do everything possible to provide them with appropriate mental health services,” Wetzel said. “But in addition to these efforts, society in general needs to address this issue and seriously consider mental health courts and diversionary programs to ensure treatment for this segment of our population that does not include sending them to prison.”




via: http://csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/posts/law-enforcement-health-advocates-and-members-of-congress-push-to-reduce-the-number-of-people-with-mental-illness-in-jails/

Local Initiative Aims to Support Boys and Men of Color Exposed to Violence

Dr. Vincent Chong, Youth Alive!

Young men of color are facing a health crisis in the United States. Throughout their life, African American, Latino, and other young men of color are disproportionately affected by violent trauma, both as victims of interpersonal violence and witnesses to community or family trauma.

Exposure to trauma, particularly at an early age, can lead to lifelong mental and physical health problems, as well as health-related behaviors that promote poor outcomes. These outcomes are not limited to health, but also include involvement in the criminal justice system, difficulty with employment, and risk of repeat violent injury.Research has also shown a direct link between violence and achievement in school. For example, students who feel safe at school (87%) are also much more likely to consider attending college compared to those who do not feel safe (69%).

As a response to this health crisis, Youth ALIVE! is working with a network of community partners, health care providers, and young men of color to develop best practices aimed at interrupting this association between traumatic experiences and poor outcomes. After traumatic experiences, individuals may exhibit symptoms of trauma that include difficulty sleeping, restlessness, hyperarousal, difficulty with concentration, and numbing of emotions.

We are currently testing a screening tool that could be broadly used to identify young men who might need help coping with symptoms of trauma. We are also evaluating brief interventions designed to disrupt trauma-based symptoms in the moment, such as self-hand massage, breathing and tensing exercises, and having a stress-reduction safety plan. This work is ongoing for us and we hope to expand its reach in the coming years by testing it in hospitals, clinics, and community settings. It will take many partners and system-level changes to reduce the impact of trauma on these young men so that they are better able to to engage in healthy habits and achieve improved outcomes.

This work is ongoing for us and we hope to expand its reach in the coming years by testing it in hospitals, clinics, and community settings. For more information about Youth ALIVE!, please visit our website at www.youthalive.org.

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