Did you know that 70,000 people will return from state prison to their New Jersey communities over the next 5 years? For more facts about reentry in New Jersey,
download the fact sheet
[PDF: 135KB/1Page]
Civil Consequences of
Criminal Convictions in New Jersey:
Fact Sheets
Individuals leaving prison in New Jersey face many legal barriers to successful reintegration. To learn about specific restrictions in various areas, click on the links below.
The New Jersey Institute
For Social Justice, Inc.
IN THIS ISSUE
-
Washington State Passes Reentry Legislation>>
- Federal Trade Commission Asked to Probe Background Checks on Rail Workers>>
- National Institute of Corrections Internet Broadcast on Reentry and Employment>>
- New Research on Faith-Based Reentry Programs>>
- Issue Briefing on Reentry and Employment>>
- New Jersey Update: New Jersey Has the Nation's Third Highest Racial Disparity in Incarceration Rates>>
Washington State Passes Reentry Legislation
Washington State has passed legislation to promote collaboration between the state’s Department of Corrections and municipalities to establish networks and provide services for reentering individuals. The bill, ESSB-6157, addresses services around housing, employment, education, and drug treatment. The legislation includes an annual appropriation of $28.3 million.
_____________________________________________________________
Federal Trade Commission Asked to Probe Background Checks on Rail Workers
On July 11, a coalition of privacy, labor, and civil liberties advocates filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, urging the agency to investigate railroad and other transportation employers who violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to give employees proper notice when conducting criminal background checks on them.
Approximately 100 railroad workers were fired by H&M International Transportation, Quality Transportation Services, Rail Terminal Services, and Renzenberger following background checks conducted by an outside vendor, e-Verifile (which received its data on the workers from a commercial data broker, Acxiom). According to the advocates – which include the Center for Democracy and Technology, Rainbow/PUSH, the National Workrights Institute, the Legal Action Center, and the National Employment Law Project – these actions violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s requirement for “clear and conspicuous” disclosure to employees.
Download the Fair Credit Reporting Act
_____________________________________________________________
National Institute of Corrections Internet Broadcast on Reentry and Employment
On July 25, the National Institute of Corrections will host “A National Dialogue: Building Bridges to Safer Communities Through Offender Employment,” a 3-hour internet broadcast (time to be posted approximately one week prior). Topics will include identifying and addressing barriers to employment faced by formerly incarcerated individuals, working with employers on job development, increasing employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals, and enhancing community safety.
New Research on Faith-Based Reentry Programs
Researchers from the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center have published two new articles on faith-based reentry programs. “Assessing Intermediate Outcomes of a Faith-Based Residential Prisoner Reentry Program,” co-authored by Caterina G. Roman, Ashley Wolff, Vanessa Correa, and, Janeen Buck, examines a reentry program in Reno, Nevada, assessing: 1) how a client’s religiosity and/or spirituality related to other client characteristics and program-level characteristics; 2) whether clients who completed the program differed from those who were terminated; and 3) how religious preference, religiosity/spirituality, religious salience, and incarceration’s impact on spirituality influenced program completion, program satisfaction, and perceived progress. “Faith-Based Efforts to Improve Prisoner Reentry: Assessing the Logic and Evidence,” co-authored by Daniel P. Mears, Caterina G. Roman, Ashley Wolff, and Janeen Buck, addresses four questions on faith-based prisoner reentry programs: 1) What is a “faith-based” program?; 2) How does or could such a program reduce recidivism and improve other behavioral outcomes among released offenders?; 3) What is the evidence concerning the impacts of faith-based reentry programs?; and 4) What are critical implementation issues that may affect the operations and impacts of such programs?
Download the abstracts and view ordering information
_____________________________________________________________
Issue Briefing on Reentry and Employment
MDRC has released an online ‘Issue Focus’ on reentry and employment as part of its research on welfare and barriers to employment. The briefing explores the relationship between crime and employment, cites research on the effectiveness of employment programs for reentering individuals, and provides synopsis updates of ongoing investigations of employment initiatives targeting formerly incarcerated individuals.
_____________________________________________________________
NEW JERSEY UPDATE:
New Jersey Has the Nation's Third Highest Racial Disparity in Incarceration Rates
The Sentencing Project has released a new state-by-state survey, “Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration By Race and Ethnicity,” which finds that New Jersey has the third highest black-to-white incarceration ratio in the nation (behind only Iowa and Vermont). The report provides an overview of the use of incarceration in all 50 states, including both prison and jail populations. Key findings include: African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six (5.6) times the rate of whites and Latinos at nearly double (1.8) the rate of whites; there is broad variation among the states in the ratio of black-to-white incarceration, ranging from a high of 13.6-to-1 in Iowa to a low of 1.9-to-1 in Hawaii; and states with the highest black-to-white ratio are disproportionately located in the Northeast and Midwest, including the leading states of Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Wisconsin.
________________________________________________
For more information about news or event sharing contact rgreenberg@njisj.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the New Jersey Reentry Digest, visit the subscription page.