On January 22, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance released the fiscal year 2013 solicitation for the Second Chance Act Adult Mentoring and Transitional Services for Successful Reentry Program. Nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Indian tribes are invited to apply to receive up to $300,000 over a two-year period to provide mentoring and transitional services to individuals returning from prison or jail. Awards will be made in two categories: mentoring programs for adult offenders generally and mentoring programs that focus on adult offenders who are parents, particularly those who are non-custodial parents. Applicants may apply under Category 1 or Category 2, but not both. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 21, 2013. To download a PDF of the solicitation, click here.

On February 20, 2013, at 3:30 p.m. ET, the Council of State Governments Justice Center will host a webinar to assist organizations with the application process. To register for the webinar, click here.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center today announced the release of “The Impact of Probation and Parole Populations on Arrests in Four California Cities.” The study, funded by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, the Public Welfare Foundation, The Fund for Nonviolence and the Rosenberg Foundation, answers one question that to date has been a matter of speculation among law enforcement and corrections officials everywhere: to what extent do people on parole and probation contribute to overall crime rates?

The Chiefs of the Los Angeles, Redlands, Sacramento, and San Francisco Police Departments commissioned the analysis in 2010. Collecting and analyzing the data required an extraordinary effort spanning 11 independent agencies, including four local police jurisdictions, county law enforcement and probation agencies, two county sheriffs’ departments and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Researchers at the CSG Justice Center collected and matched more than 2.5 million arrest, parole, and probation records generated between January 1, 2008 and June 11, 2011.

To learn more about this publication, click here.

On January 10, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance released the Second Chance Act Technology Career Training grant program solicitation. State and local governments, territories, and “federally recognized Indian tribes” are encouraged to apply. The funds can be used to establish training programs in technology-based fields for adults and juveniles in the 6-18 months prior to their release. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 11, 2013. To download a PDF of the solicitation, click here.

On December 12 after a year-long exhaustive study, the Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence issued comprehensive recommendations, including a recommendation to abandon policies that prosecute, incarcerate, or sentence youth under 18 in adult criminal court. According to the report, “[w]e should stop treating juvenile offenders as if they were adults, prosecuting them in adult courts, incarcerating them as adults, and sentencing them to harsh punishments that ignore their capacity to grow.”

“The Task Force’s recommendation to remove youth from adult criminal court is grounded in the latest research on effective approaches to reducing juvenile crime,” says Liz Ryan, the Campaign for Youth Justice President and CEO. “We look forward to working with Attorney General Holder and members of the Task Force to ensure that federal and state policies and budgets align with this recommendation.”

Reentry councils take a collaborative approach to improving reentry outcomes in their communities. Members of these councils often include a cross-section of policy makers and criminal justice stakeholders, including: elected officials; judges; defense attorneys; prosecutors; administrators and staff from law enforcement, courts, pretrial services, corrections, probation and parole; crime victim advocates; formerly incarcerated individuals and their family members; representatives from community based organizations; local business owners; and treatment and social service providers. Through the reentry council, these stakeholders work together to develop initiatives and policies to promote successful reentry.

Bexar County Commissioner, Tommy Adkisson, described the conference as “the most significant convocation of reentry leaders in the history of the state” and said that “slowly but surely we are assembling a group of leaders who will take reentry work to the next level not only in the next legislative session, but year-round.”

In August, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a civil penalty of $2.6 million on HireRight Solutions, a background screening company, for allegedly violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in regards to criminal records. A landmark case, the United States v. HireRight Solutions, Inc. marks the first time that the FTC has fined a background screening company in a FCRA case; it also resulted in the second-largest civil penalty that the consumer protection agency has ever imposed under FCRA. The FTC, a member of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, underscored its decision on September 13th, when Robert Schoshinski of the FTC testified before the House and stated that enforcing FCRA remains a top priority for the agency.

Originally passed in 1970, FCRA regulates the collection and use of sensitive consumer information, including criminal records. According to the FTC’s charges, HireRight Solutions allegedly violated FCRA by failing to ensure that the reports it provided to employers included up-to-date and accurate information on individuals’ criminal histories. Specific examples of the alleged mishandling of records include providing employers with expunged criminal records and reports incorrectly matched to individuals being considered for employment.

According to Anthony Rodriguez, a staff attorney at the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, HireRight Solutions repeatedly matched people with different middle names, dates of birth, or genders—obviously erroneous information that should have been caught had proper procedures been in place.

On October 1, 2012, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department awarded $58.5 million to 98 Second Chance Act grantees around the country. Second Chance Act grants, which are administered by the department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), support comprehensive strategies that address the challenges faced by adults and youth following release from prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities. Since 2009, when the first Second Chance Act grants were announced, nearly 500 grant awards have been made.

Of the $58.5 million awarded in 2012, more than $47 million will go to state and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations to fund interventions and support services that improve outcomes for formerly incarcerated adults and youth returning to their communities.

On November 15, 2012, the Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center) hosted a briefing for congressional staffers, government officials, advocates, and other stakeholders to discuss the ongoing efforts of law enforcement, education officials, and policymakers to develop alternatives to suspensions and expulsions, decrease student contact with the juvenile justice system, and provide safe, positive learning environments.

Hosted by the National Reentry Resource Center

During the post-release stage of reentry, community corrections officers rely on many tools and resources to effectively monitor and manage individuals under supervision. Electronic technologies are among the tools used, and as these technologies improve, officers have become better equipped to supervise individuals in the community.

In this webinar the American Probation and Parole Association, in collaboration with the Corrections Technology Center of Excellence, a program of the National Institute of Justice, will provide an overview of the numerous technologies that are available for use by community corrections agencies. During the webinar the panelists will discuss new trends and applications for each of these technologies. Topics that will be discussed include location technologies; drug detection technologies; computer monitoring; remote/automated offender reporting; and other emerging technologies. This webinar will be of particular interest to community corrections professionals, allowing them to learn about the latest technologies in the field and helping them to identify which technologies may be a good fit for their agencies.

On September 19, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the American Bar Association (ABA) joined with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to announce the launch of the National Inventory of the Collateral Consequences of Conviction (NICCC) website. When individuals are convicted of crimes, they often face long-term consequences years after they’ve served their punishment. These consequences are diverse, ranging from employment restrictions to voting bans, and are often established by a large number of complicated, overlapping bills that make it very difficult for judges, prosecutors, defendants, and others to understand the long-term collateral consequences of a crime.

Many people released from prison have a substantial amount of debt to repay, and child support is often a significant part of these financial obligations. The following feature is a Q&A with Adrienne Noti, Senior Program Analyst at the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Administration for Children and Families. OCSE recently released three fact sheets in its Project to Avoid Increasing Delinquencies series, which promotes innovative strategies for improving the collection of child support. In this Q&A, Noti discusses these promising practices and their effect on incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families.

CSG Justice Center: Can you describe the work of the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and how it engages with state and local agencies?

Adrienne Noti: The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) partners with federal, state, tribal, and local governments and others to promote parental responsibility so that children receive reliable support from their parents. OCSE helps child support agencies in the states and tribes to develop, manage, and operate their programs effectively and according to federal law. In working with state and local agencies, the federal child support program promotes economic stability, facilitates healthy relationships, supports responsible fatherhood, and connects parents to jobs.

Washington, DC—The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center convened this week a group of more than 100 policymakers, national experts, educators, law enforcement and court officials, health professionals, students, parents and others committed to improving school disciplinary policies. The diverse, bipartisan national group commenced work on consensus-based recommendations for approaches to school discipline that keep kids in school and out of the juvenile justice system while providing a safe, positive learning environment.