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The Second Chance Act and the Future of Reentry Reform

The Second Chance Act and the Future of Reentry Reform EDITOR’S OBSERVATIONS The Second Chance Act and the Future of Reentry Reform MICHAEL M. O’HEAR Professor, Marquette University Law School Editor, Federal Sentencing Reporter Mass incarceration in the 1980s and 1990s has spawned a prisoner reentry crisis in this decade. Although reentry has only recently gained currency as a national political issue, the problems associated with reentry were an utterly predictable consequence of a long-term trend toward increased reliance on imprisonment as a response to crime. Even at the height of the incarceration boom, only a tiny fraction of offenders were sentenced to death or life imprisonment, and the average prison term has remained below three years.1 Thus, nearly everyone we send away to prison eventually comes back. They return, for the most part, to a small number of low-income, urban communities that are already struggling with a host of profound social problems.2 They return, after the defunding of prison-based educational and therapeutic programs,3 with the same underlying deficits that contributed to their criminal behavior in the first place. Indeed, they are apt to return with those deficits widened as a result of their time in prison and the stigma of a criminal record.4 And they return in http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Federal Sentencing Reporter University of California Press

The Second Chance Act and the Future of Reentry Reform

Federal Sentencing Reporter , Volume 20 (1) – Dec 1, 2007

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References (14)

Publisher
University of California Press
Copyright
© 2007 BY THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Subject
Editor's Observations
ISSN
1053-9867
eISSN
1533-8363
DOI
10.1525/fsr.2007.20.2.75
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

EDITOR’S OBSERVATIONS The Second Chance Act and the Future of Reentry Reform MICHAEL M. O’HEAR Professor, Marquette University Law School Editor, Federal Sentencing Reporter Mass incarceration in the 1980s and 1990s has spawned a prisoner reentry crisis in this decade. Although reentry has only recently gained currency as a national political issue, the problems associated with reentry were an utterly predictable consequence of a long-term trend toward increased reliance on imprisonment as a response to crime. Even at the height of the incarceration boom, only a tiny fraction of offenders were sentenced to death or life imprisonment, and the average prison term has remained below three years.1 Thus, nearly everyone we send away to prison eventually comes back. They return, for the most part, to a small number of low-income, urban communities that are already struggling with a host of profound social problems.2 They return, after the defunding of prison-based educational and therapeutic programs,3 with the same underlying deficits that contributed to their criminal behavior in the first place. Indeed, they are apt to return with those deficits widened as a result of their time in prison and the stigma of a criminal record.4 And they return in

Journal

Federal Sentencing ReporterUniversity of California Press

Published: Dec 1, 2007

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