$100 Million to go towards reducing recidivism rates

Lisette Livingston |

Speaking at the European Offenders Employment Forum recently, Attorney General Eric Holder said $110 million in funding will go towards the Second Chance Act reentry grants and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative for fiscal year 2010. The two efforts focus on reducing recidivism rates and state and local spending on corrections through the

use of evidence-based, smart-on-crime approaches implemented by state, local, tribal and non-profit

partners. The departments Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is administering the grants, research,

and training and technical assistance.

Todays Department of Justice is dedicated to being smart, not only tough, on crime and our reentry efforts are no exception, said Holder. Its vital that we help ensure that people who want to improve our society, as well as their own circumstances, have opportunities to grow, to learn, and to contribute. By joining together, I believe that we can

realize our shared vision of safe, thriving communities, he added.

There are more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States, according to OJPs Bureau

of Justice Statistics. Ninety-five percent of all people incarcerated today will eventually be released and will return to their communities. The conference, held recently in Washington, D.C., was convened by the National Transitional

Jobs Network and the Center for Economic and Social Inclusion to discuss promising practices, policies, and strategies for prisoner reentry.

We have a responsibility to partner with communities to keep the public safe and to ensure ex-offenders are fully equipped to become productive, law-abiding citizens, said Laurie O. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for OJP, who also spoke at the conference. This includes supporting community-based programs that are successful, and backed by evidence of effectiveness, she said.

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