National Blueprint For Reentry

1
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Create a federal human rights standard that
encourages employers to hire qualified applicants
with criminal histories and prohibits flat bans
against hiring qualified individuals with
criminal histories.
2
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Support the creation of Transitional Jobs as a
dedicated funding source for Transitional Jobs
programs and amend the WIA formula program to
ensure that Transitional Jobs are an allowable
activity.
3
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Prohibit employers and other non-law enforcement
agencies from inquiring about or using
information about arrests that did not lead to
conviction or missing dispositions on criminal
record reports issued by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation or other criminal justice reporting
agencies.
4
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Enact a federal standard for employers based on
recommendations outlined in the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission guidance on the use of
background checks for employment purposes when
screening applicants with criminal records.
5
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Require all current and future legislation that
authorizes the disqualification of individuals
with criminal records to include a waiver/appeal
process whereby the applicant can challenge
inaccuracies in criminal record reports, present
evidence of rehabilitation and other mitigating
information relevant to their criminal history
and rehabilitation.
6
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Require all current and future legislation that
authorizes the use of criminal background checks
for employment related purposes to include a
provision that designates an independent body,
rather than individual employers, to make fitness
determinations.
7
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Increase and improve employer incentives for
hiring qualified individuals with criminal
histories. Implement a federal Justice
Reinvestment program that ensures any corrections
savings are reinvested into funding streams that
support reentry and community-driven crime
prevention programs.
8
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Change the federal employment standard for how
old a record has to be for consideration. The
policy should be amended to include a graduated
period of consideration of the criminal record
based upon the severity of the individuals
criminal history. Consideration of a criminal
record beyond 7 years should be discouraged or
prohibited.
9
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Require the federal Office of Personnel
Management to report to Congress annually on its
employment policies for people with criminal
records.
10
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Ensure annual appropriations that adequately fund
all of the appropriate agencies that support
education and employment services for
incarcerated and reentering individuals including
but not limited to Department of Justice,
Department of Labor, Department of Education,
Health and Human Services, SAMHSA, and the
Veterans Administration.
11
National Blueprint For Reentry
Reemployment Legal Action Center
Require all federally funded reentry programs to
collect relevant data that measure their
effectiveness in serving a diverse array of
individuals with criminal histories (i.e.
violent/nonviolent, youth/adult, male/female).
12
Job Search Training Systems, Inc. Recommendations
On The More Practical Immediate Side

• Initiate a new type of training for prisoners in
  computer graphics, video editing, and visual
  communication.
• Train a few long-term inmates on how to operate
  an ex-offender-oriented job search training
  program and perform basic vocational evaluations.
• Expand on the National Correctional Institutes
  job search delivery model and help states DOC do
  a better job of preparing exiting offenders to
  cope with the realities of looking for work.

13
Job Search Training Systems, Inc. Recommendations
On The More Practical Immediate Side

• Help the states DOC make an apples to apples
  analysis of how well different job search
  delivery models and service delivery systems are
  working for ex-offenders within the
  city/state/country.
• Better market reentry programs by educating
  employers about the realities, benefits, and the
  risks associated with bringing ex-offenders into
  their labor force
• Create a data-gathering process to acquire local
  labor market data that is specifically related to
  ex-offenders. This process would have to be used
  by every reentry/reemployment organization that
  receives federal, state, or city money.

14
Crime Justice Institute Recommendations On The
More Practical Immediate Side

• Facilitate transitional employment, including
  increasing pre-release and work release programs
  and public-private partnerships. Ex-offenders
  need to build experience and strong references
  both during and after release.
• Increase and strengthen training in both soft and
  hard skills and create more partnerships with
  employers to match technical training with their
  industry needs. Good soft and technical skills
  can help ex-offenders stand out.

15
Crime Justice Institute Recommendations On The
More Practical Immediate Side

• Examine whether anything can be done to mitigate
  employers concerns about legal liability, i.e.,
  examine current laws that affect liability for
  hiring ex-offenders, and educate employers about
  current laws.
• Promote opportunities for relationship building
  between employers, ex-offenders, and intermediary
  employment agencies.