
How a coalition of stakeholders is reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety in Upper Manhattan
The Harlem Community Justice Center's Reentry Services are located in East Harlem
The choir started off the celebration this year at the Reentry Court Graduation
During the summer, we host a block party and celebration for Reentry clients and their families
Young man thanks his Parole Officer for keeping him on track
Families join to celebrate the accomplishments of graduates
A new Nebraskan law designed to bring Nebraska’s Sexual Offender Registry Act (Megan’s Law) into the Age of the Internet creates new barriers for former sexual offenders seeking to find and maintain jobs. While Nebraska, like all states in the U.S., has some type of Megan's law that restricts former sex offenders' ability to find employment (such as residency restrictions and community notification requirements), this new Nebraskan legislation makes finding and maintaining a job even more difficult. Among other measures, such as requiring parolees to register all of his/her internet identifiers, Legislative Bill 285
“authorizes the sheriff to conduct a search of any computer or electronic device used by the parolee without notification,
mandates the registrant to notify the sheriff within one day of any changes in or additions to a person’s list of email addresses and day of any content he posts or pictures he uploads,"
and
"forbids any person required to register to use any social networking site, instant or chat room service (including text messaging) that may be used by any individual under eighteen.”
Three ways the law will impact a former offenders job prospects
While the Nebraskan law aims to prevent individuals convicted of sex offenses from using the internet to find victims, its unintended consequences may actually increase recidivism. Researchers agree that employment is a key factor in a former offender’s ability to lead a life free of criminal behavior. Here are three ways the legislation will have an impact on a parolee's employment opportunities:
- Today, everyone’s job search begins on the internet through sites that will now be prohibited to ex-offenders. The prohibition on accessing “social networking sites” includes many job search engines that offer the ability to create a profile and post resumes. (i.e. Idealist.org or Linked In). The law contains no exception for job-related activities, which is the equivalent of taking the Classified section from a parolee released in the 1960's.
-The Sheriff will be authorized to search a former offender's work computer or any electronic device he uses on the job. Such a restriction will serve as an additional deterrent to those already scarce employers willing to hire individuals with criminal records.
-A former offender is unlikely to be able to accept a position that requires him to post content on the internet, communicate via email or chat, or upload photos without violating the one day notification period mandated by the new law. The consequences for violating the one day period is a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for the second.
New York law, the internet, and former sex offenders
Last year, New York passed E-Stop, the Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act, which makes an effort to address community safety while remaining mindful of the crucial role of employment in recidivism.
The preamble to the law reads: “[P]ersons on parole and probation currently face many barriers to employment and education opportunities as a result of having a criminal record. Studies indicate that access to employment and education greatly reduces the risk of recidivism by ex-offenders . Therefore any measure that restricts an offender’s use of the internet must be tailored to specifically target the types of offenses committed on the internet while not making it impossible for such offenders to successfully reintegrate back into society.”
Additionally, E-Stop
“requires that sex offenders register all of their Internet accounts and Internet identifiers with the State Division of Criminal Justice Services,
authorizes the Division of Criminal Justice Services to release state sex offender Internet identifiers to social networking sites and certain other online services, which may be used to pre-screen or remove sex offenders from using the site’s services and notify law enforcement authorities and other government officials of potential violations of law and threats to public safety,"
and,
"requires, as a condition of probation or parole, mandatory restrictions on a sex offender’s access to the Internet where the offender’s victim was a minor, the Internet was used to commit the offense, or the offender was designated a level 3 (highest level offender.)”
The law also explicitly states that the court “shall not prohibit such sentenced offender from using the internet in connection with education, lawful employment, or search for lawful employment.”
The bill would lift the state ban on food stamps and welfare benefits for people with felony drug convictions and would expand education and training opportunities for inmates. And it would end an odious practice under which the prison system earns a profit by overcharging poor families for the collect calls they receive from relatives inside a system. The added cost sometimes forces families to choose between putting food on the table or letting a child speak to an incarcerated parent."
To download the solicitation or find out more about the grant program, click here.
The deadline for applications is 8:00 p.m. ET on March 4, 2010.
In 2007, more than half of the youths who entered detention centers were sent there for the equivalent of misdemeanor offenses, in many cases theft, drug possession or even truancy. More than 80 percent were black or Latino, even though blacks and Latinos make up less than half the state’s total youth population — a racial disparity that has never been explained, the report said.
Many of those detained have addictions or psychological illnesses for which less restrictive treatment programs were not available. Three-quarters of children entering the juvenile justice system have drug or alcohol problems, more than half have had a diagnosis of mental health problems and one-third have developmental disabilities.
Yet there are only 55 psychologists and clinical social workers assigned to the prisons, according to the task force. And none of the facilities employ psychiatrists, who have the authority to prescribe the drugs many mentally ill teenagers require.
While 76 percent of youths in custody are from the New York City area, nearly all the prisons are upstate, and the youths’ relatives, many of them poor, cannot afford frequent visits, cutting them off from support networks."
For a copy of the Task Force's full recommendations for reform, click here.