Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act, or REDEEM Act. This bill would take meaningful steps towards allowing returning citizens to obtain…
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act, or REDEEM Act. This bill would take meaningful steps towards allowing returning citizens to obtain employment. As President George W. Bush said in his 2004 State of the Union Address, ``America is the land of the second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.'' The REDEEM Act would help provide people with that second chance after their incarceration. I thank Senator Paul for his tireless work with me on the REDEEM Act.
In the last 30 years, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has drastically increased. Since 1980, the federal prison population alone has grown by nearly 800 percent and American taxpayers are left paying for the bill. In fiscal year 2014, the Bureau of Prisons accounted for a quarter of the Department of Justice's budget at $6.9 billion. Our bloated criminal justice system wastes priceless human potential and fails to make our communities safer. It also fails to adequately prepare the over 600,000 people each year who are released from prison for their return to the community.
A high number of Americans living in our communities have criminal convictions. About 70 million people in the United States have been arrested or convicted of a crime. That means almost one in three adults in the United States has a criminal record. In fact, in our Nation's Capital alone, an estimated 1 in 10 DC residents has a criminal record.
The American Bar Association has identified over 44,500 ``collateral consequences''--or legal constraints--placed on what individuals with records can do once they are released from prison. Of those, up to 70 percent are related to employment.
Today, a criminal conviction is a modern-day scarlet letter that, because of the so-called War on Drugs, has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color. For example, African-American men with a conviction are 40 percent less likely to receive an interview. And the likelihood that Latino men with a record will receive an interview or be offered a job is 18 percent smaller than the likelihood for white men.
To increase public safety, reduce recidivism, and protect the future of our children, I am proud to re-introduce the REDEEM Act. This bill would incentivize states to raise the age of original jurisdiction for criminal courts to 18 years old. Trying juveniles who have committed low-level, nonviolent crimes as adults is counterproductive. They do not emerge from prison reformed and ready to reintegrate into school, nor will the criminal record they have help them obtain a job.
This change in law is important for protecting our children's futures. For kids in the dozen states that treat 17- and even 16-year- olds as adults, no longer would getting into a school yard scuffle result in an adult record that could follow an individual for the rest of their life, restrict access to a college degree, limit job prospects, or lead to likely recidivism.
The bill would enhance Federal juvenile record confidentiality and provide for automatic expungement of records for kids who commit nonviolent crimes before they turn 15 and automatic sealing of records for those who commit nonviolent crimes after they turn 15.
The bill would ban the very cruel and counterproductive practice of juvenile solitary confinement that can have immediate and long-term detrimental effects on a youth's mental and physical health. In fact, the majority of suicides by juveniles in prisons occur when young people are placed in solitary confinement. Other nations even consider it torture.
The REDEEM Act would, for adults, offer the first broad-based federal path to the sealing of criminal records. A person who commits a nonviolent crime will be able to petition a court for sealing of the record, so their future job prospects are not harmed.
And the bill would enhance the accuracy of criminal justice records. Employers requesting a background check from the FBI will be provided with only relevant and accurate information thanks to a provision that will protect job applicants by improving the quality of the Bureau's background check.
Think about this: 17 million background checks were done by the FBI in 2013, many of them for private providers, and upward of half of them were
inaccurate or incomplete, often causing people to lose a job, miss an economic opportunity, and be trapped with few economic options other than to reoffend in order to feed a child or pay a debt.
The bill helps guard against gender disparities in federal juvenile delinquency proceedings. Additionally, it would ensure that programming and services are distributed evenly among male and female juveniles. Oftentimes, juvenile females receive less programming and resources than males because of the smaller size of the female prison population. This is wrong and this bill take a step forward to fix the problem.
Finally, the REDEEM Act would lift a ban on two critical Federal benefits: the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The intent of those Federal programs is to keep low-income families from going hungry. Yet those convicted of drug felonies lose the right to obtain such benefits. Once an individual has paid his or her debt to society, a path to the reinstatement of those benefits should be available.
I am proud to introduce the REDEEM Act today. Again, I thank Senator Paul for partnering with me on this bill. I urge this bill's speedy passage.
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2017, also known as the Fair Chance Act. This criminal justice reform bill is designed to help returning citizens successfully obtain jobs and reintegrate into society. As the nation's largest employer, it is time the Federal Government leads by example and delays the criminal history inquiry until later in the hiring process. I thank Senator Johnson for his leadership on the Fair Chance Act, and I deeply appreciate Senators Baldwin, Ernst, Brown, and Portman for joining the bill as original cosponsors.
Everyone deserves the dignity of work and the opportunity for a second chance to earn a living. But far too many Americans who return home from behind bars have to disclose convictions on their initial employment application or initial job interview that often serve as insurmountable barriers to employment. This legislation would ensure that people with convictions--who have paid their debt to society and want to turn their lives around--have a fair chance to work.
By encouraging Federal employers to focus on an individual's qualifications and merit and not solely on past mistakes, the Fair Chance Act would remove burdensome and unnecessary obstacles that prevent formerly incarcerated people from reaching their full potential and contributing to society. It would also help reduce recidivism, combat poverty, and prevent violence in our communities by helping people get back to work.
Creating employment opportunities for our returning citizens benefits public safety. With little hope of obtaining a decent paying job, returning citizens are often left with few options but to return to a life of crime. A 2011 study in the Justice Quarterly concluded that the lack of employment was the single most negative determinant of recidivism. A report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that of the over 400,000 State prisoners released in 2005, 67.8 percent of them were rearrested within 3 years of their release, and 76.6 percent were rearrested within 5 years of their release.
Creating employment opportunities for our returning citizens strengthens our economy. Poor job prospects for people with records reduced our Nation's gross domestic product in 2008 between $57 billion and $65 billion. With an increasingly competitive global economy and to maintain America's competitive advantage, we must promote employment of all Americans.
Today, I introduce the Fair Chance Act, which would help eliminate barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated people and bring America closer to truly being a land of opportunity for all. It would preclude the federal government--including the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches--from requesting criminal history information from applicants until they reach the conditional offer stage.
This bill strikes the right balance. It would allow qualified people with criminal records to get their foot in the door and be judged on their own merit. At the same time, the legislation would allow employers to know an individual's criminal history before the job applicant is hired.
This bill would prohibit federal contractors from requesting criminal history information from candidates for positions within the scope of Federal contracts until a conditional job offer has been extended. Companies that do business with the Federal Government and receive Federal funds should espouse good hiring practices. The Fair Chance Act would permit Federal contractors to inquire about criminal history earlier in the hiring process if the job requires a candidate to access classified information.
The bill includes exceptions for sensitive positions where criminal history inquiries are necessary earlier in the application process. Exceptions include positions involving classified information, sensitive national security duties, armed forces, and law enforcement jobs, and jobs where criminal history information is legally required.
Finally, the Fair Chance Act would require the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in coordination with the U.S. Census Bureau, to report to Congress on the employment statistics of returning citizens. Currently, no comprehensive tracking of data on the employment histories of people with convictions exists. This provision would change that and allow us to better understand the scope of the problem people with convictions face when trying to find a job.
I am proud to reintroduce the Fair Chance Act. I want to again thank the bill cosponsors and their leadership on this issue. I urge this legislation's speedy passage.
