Bipartisan Coalition of Judiciary Committee Members Announce Passage of Second Chance Act

Press Release

Bipartisan Coalition of Judiciary Committee Members Announce Passage of Second Chance Act

U.S. Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Arlen Specter (R-Pa), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), announce the Senate Judiciary Committee's passage of S. 1060, Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007.
The Second Chance Act will assist federal, state and local governments in providing inmates with the tools they need to successfully reintegrate into the community upon their release. Under the bill, state and local governments will team with nonprofit organizations, faith-based groups, and service providers to implement comprehensive reentry plans that include education and literacy classes, job training, substance abuse treatment, and access to basic services.

"It's time we start facing a stark reality - several million people are serving time in our federal and state prisons, and sooner or later, the vast majority - 95% of them - will be released," said Biden. "Many of these offenders reenter our communities with insufficient monitoring, little or no job training, inadequate housing and deficient basic life skills. Not surprisingly, two-thirds of those released from state prisons are rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of getting out. It is clearly in our best interest to help them reintegrate into the community and become productive, contributing members of our society and I urge my colleagues to support this vital legislation."
"The Second Chance Act will provide an opportunity for realistic rehabilitation for the more than 650,000 inmates who return to their communities each year," said Specter. "The bill's focus on education, job training, and substance abuse treatment is essential to decreasing the nationwide recidivism rate of 66%."

"I commend my colleagues in the Judiciary Committee for passing this bill out of committee and look forward to its full Senate passage" said Brownback. "The current prison recidivism rate in America is entirely too high and something must be done to break the costly cycle of recidivism. The Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act will certainly bring much needed change to the American criminal justice system."
"It is vitally important that we do everything we can to ensure that, when people get out of prison, they enter our communities as productive members of society, so we can start to reverse the dangerous cycles of recidivism and violence" said Leahy. "I hope that the Second Chance Act will help us begin to break that cycle, and I am glad that the Senate Judiciary Committee reported it favorably with a strong bipartisan vote today."

By giving prisoners a second opportunity to build a productive life, the bill will take important steps toward reducing the nationwide recidivism rate of 66% and decreasing the annual $8.2 billion dollar cost of incarceration.
Senators Biden, Specter, Brownback and Leahy look forward to swift passage of the bill by the full Senate following the August recess.

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