Recidivism
Matthew Sanchez
English 111, M17
11/15/2012
Ex-Prisoners Need a Second Second Chance There is a social stigma that has been portrayed throughout recent years that has prevented the employment of ex-prisoners. I have sorrowed over this as I witnessed my own brother after being incarcerated for 16 years, and with education received within his institution, could not find employment for over a year after his release. This is not just a problem close to home, it is all over our nation, prisoners are released every day yet they still don’t seem to fit in due to the social stigma that has attached to most employers and employment agencies. This impacts the decisions that the ex-prisoners will do in the future. Some ex-prisoners may struggle for a while and some may give up and result back to doing crime. This is called recidivism. Recidivism is like a disease that is not a result of previous criminal activities of ex-convicts; it is a result of society not accepting ex-prisoners as equals to the good samaritan society. It costs a lot of money to house an inmate in our growing population of criminals, but it is cheaper to educate them and keep them out of prison. This is only half the solution; employers need to be restricted to when they can process background checks in their hiring process. Employers should be unaware and not give personal judgments when hiring. The fact of the matter is ex-prisoners are just as important to our society, our economy, and our workforce. They can help and contribute and do well if given the chance. Ex-prisoners, when released, should be accepted and integrated amongst us with more opportunities. Less money needs to be spent on building more prisons, and more money needs to be spent on programs, and education to prisoners to help them cope with re-entry to society. The social stigma unfortunately is hard to diminish by itself. It’s like the stigma of racism that still happens in certain parts of our country, still today it lingers
English 111, M17
11/15/2012
Ex-Prisoners Need a Second Second Chance There is a social stigma that has been portrayed throughout recent years that has prevented the employment of ex-prisoners. I have sorrowed over this as I witnessed my own brother after being incarcerated for 16 years, and with education received within his institution, could not find employment for over a year after his release. This is not just a problem close to home, it is all over our nation, prisoners are released every day yet they still don’t seem to fit in due to the social stigma that has attached to most employers and employment agencies. This impacts the decisions that the ex-prisoners will do in the future. Some ex-prisoners may struggle for a while and some may give up and result back to doing crime. This is called recidivism. Recidivism is like a disease that is not a result of previous criminal activities of ex-convicts; it is a result of society not accepting ex-prisoners as equals to the good samaritan society. It costs a lot of money to house an inmate in our growing population of criminals, but it is cheaper to educate them and keep them out of prison. This is only half the solution; employers need to be restricted to when they can process background checks in their hiring process. Employers should be unaware and not give personal judgments when hiring. The fact of the matter is ex-prisoners are just as important to our society, our economy, and our workforce. They can help and contribute and do well if given the chance. Ex-prisoners, when released, should be accepted and integrated amongst us with more opportunities. Less money needs to be spent on building more prisons, and more money needs to be spent on programs, and education to prisoners to help them cope with re-entry to society. The social stigma unfortunately is hard to diminish by itself. It’s like the stigma of racism that still happens in certain parts of our country, still today it lingers
Bibliography: Muhlhausen, David. B. The second chance act: More evaluations of effectiveness needed. 2010. Print New York Times News Service Officer, Kelly., Bajpai, Devarshi., Wilson, Micheal, State of Oregon: Criminal Justice Commision. 2008. Print Pager, Devah