Reentry and Employment Project Stephanie Akhter, Project Manager Madeline Neighly, Senior Policy Advisor 2016 Midyears Meetings February 24, 2016

Project goals Council of State Governments Justice Center2 Ensure people have skills for work Develop and test knowledge Leverage funding Engage employers Convene roundtable dialogues Support public/private partnerships Reduce policy barriers Share information about what works Develop criminal records clearance project

Translating research into practice about what works to prepare people for employment Council of State Governments Justice Center3 Ensure people have skills for work Develop and test knowledge Leverage funding Engage employers Convene roundtable dialogues Support public/private partnerships Reduce policy barriers Share information about what works Develop criminal records clearance project

Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies (IRES) white paper released in 2013 Council of State Governments Justice Center4 Goal: Bridge the workforce development and corrections/reentry fields by connecting people to appropriate services based on their individualized needs

By sorting people based on risk and job readiness, we can connect them to appropriate services Council of State Governments Justice Center5

Currently testing systems-level framework in two pilot sites Council of State Governments Justice Center6 Palm Beach County, FL Milwaukee County, WI Identify risk and need profiles of target population Map assessment and referral processes to connect people to programming Determine which providers are best equipped to serve different populations

Pilot project technical assistance timeline Council of State Governments Justice Center7 Year One (completed March 2016) Information Gathering and Planning Year Two Implementation Year Three Evaluation

Challenges  No standard definition of “job ready”  Service delivery not typically informed by assessments  Funding streams have inconsistent or competing eligibility and measures of success  Few programs deliver evidence-based cognitive-behavioral interventions Council of State Governments Justice Center8

Implications for the Justice Center  How can our findings from the pilot sites inform TA delivery to grantees?  How do we incorporate knowledge on transitional age youth services into pilot sites? Council of State Governments Justice Center9

Designing public/private partnerships to increase opportunities for work Council of State Governments Justice Center10 Ensure people have skills for work Develop and test knowledge Leverage funding Engage employers Convene roundtable dialogues Support public/private partnerships Reduce policy barriers Share information about what works Develop criminal records clearance project

Business leaders convened at White House in 2014 to discuss hiring concerns and opportunities Council of State Governments Justice Center11 U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez ; Secretary John Wetzel, PA Department of Corrections Derek Bottoms, Vice President of Associate Relations, The Home Depot; Daniel Hardiman, CEO, True North Companies, Inc.

Call-to-action spurred local public/private dialogues across the country Chicago, IL “Midwest Regional Summit on Fair Hiring” Milwaukee, WIIndianapolis, IN Detroit, MI Washington, DC Greenville, SC Atlanta, GA “Southern Regional Summit on Fair Hiring” Birmingham, AL Memphis, TN Los Angeles, CA Wichita, KS

What have we learned? Council of State Governments Justice Center13 Businesses struggle to find qualified workers Businesses are concerned with brand image Policies are not always effective or responsive

Implications for the Justice Center  When do you interact with private sector stakeholders on projects or through grantees?  Are there opportunities to align messaging or gather additional information?  How have dialogues been used to spur action in other Justice Center work? Council of State Governments Justice Center14

Supporting policymakers seeking to minimize impact of a criminal record on employment Council of State Governments Justice Center15 Ensure people have skills for work Develop and test knowledge Leverage funding Engage employers Convene roundtable dialogues Support public/private partnerships Reduce policy barriers Share information about what works Develop criminal records clearance project

State policies passed between States are taking steps to improve access to employment for people with criminal records Council of State Governments Justice Center16 SOURCE: Vera Institute of Justice Center on Sentencing and Corrections (2014) “Relief in Sight? States Rethink the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, ”

Criminal records lose predictive value over time Council of State Governments Justice Center17 “[A]fter some period of time has passed, the risk of a new criminal event among a population of nonoffenders and a population of prior offenders becomes similar." SOURCE: Brame, Bushway, & Kurlychek “Enduring Risk? Old criminal records and predictions of future criminal involvement” (Crime & Delinquency 53, no. 64 (2007): 83).

Many restrictions are not time-limited Council of State Governments Justice Center18 SOURCE: American Bar Association (2011) A catalogue of state law collateral consequences can be found at abacollateralconsequences.org 31,000 collateral consequences are permanent All states permit consideration of criminal history information in licensing decisions Many states have overarching statutes limiting denial of licensure based on convictions that are directly, substantially, or rationally related to the occupation Individual licensing statutes impose additional, conviction-based restrictions

Legislators are addressing lack of available workers Council of State Governments Justice Center19 La. C.Cr.P. Art. 971 (eff. Aug. 1, 2014) The legislature hereby finds and declares the following: (1) Louisiana law provides for the expungement of certain arrest and conviction records under limited circumstances. Obtaining an expungement of these records allows for the removal of a record from public access but does not result in the destruction of the record. (2) An expunged record is confidential, but remains available for use by law enforcement agencies, criminal justice agencies, and other statutorily defined agencies. (3) Following the passage of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, all individuals who wish to work at ports or on vessels regulated by this Act are required to obtain a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). Obtaining a TWIC card requires a criminal history check and clearance which cannot be obtained without either a clean record or an expunged record with respect to certain offenses. (4) The inability to obtain an expungement can prevent certain individuals from obtaining gainful employment. (5) The need for employment must be balanced appropriately against the desire for public safety. Nothing in this Title shall be construed to limit or impair in any way the subsequent use of any expunged record of arrest or conviction in any lawful manner by law enforcement, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, or judges, including its use as a predicate offense or for the provisions of the Habitual Offender Law. (6) It is the intention of the legislature that this Title will provide opportunities to break the cycle of recidivism, increase public safety, and assist the growing population of criminal offenders reentering the community to establish a self-sustaining life through opportunities in employment.

Early development stage of work examining criminal record clearance policies Council of State Governments Justice Center20  Defining the terms internally and creating shared language; increasing knowledge base  Reviewing available research on predictability, recidivism, and risk, and identifying research gaps  Charting the current record clearance landscape  Expanding current information to map policies as high/low procedure and high/low reward  Developing regional information to support TA

What goes onto a criminal record? Council of State Governments Justice Center21 Criminal Record Arrest Decline prosecution Pre-trial diversion DeferralDisposition Post- conviction relief Juvenile adjudication

Implications for the Justice Center  What perspectives should we be considering when framing this work?  Victims’ rights  Law enforcement  Parole/probation  Defense bar  Research  Are there opportunities to align this work with other projects or TA delivery to grantees? Council of State Governments Justice Center22

Council of State Governments Justice Center Questions? 23