Research on Employing Offenders-Council for Court Excellence-DC Public Safety

Welcome to “DC Public Safety” – Radio and television shows, blog and transcripts on crime, criminal offenders and the criminal justice system. We currently average 90,000 page views a month.

The portal site for “DC Public Safety” is http://media.csosa.gov.

Transcript available at http://media.csosa.gov/podcast/transcripts/2012/03/research-on-employing-offenders-council-for-court-excellence-dc-public-safety/

Current Radio Program:

The program interviews Dr. June B. Kress, Executive Director, Council for Court Excellence and Peter M. Willner, Senior Policy Analyst for the Council for Court Excellence. The Council released research interviewing employers and former offenders regarding offender employment.

The report, “Unlocking Employment Opportunity,” cites a 50 percent unemployment rate for people released from prison or jail, 77 percent stated that they received no occupational assistance while incarcerated and 80 percent stated that they were asked about their criminal record while applying for jobs. Fifty percent of employers stated that they would be willing to hire offenders if incentives were provided; liability was a principle concern. The Council advocates for a certificate of compliance for those offenders doing well under (or beyond) supervision of parole and probation agencies.

The website for the Council is http://www.courtexcellence.org.

Special Announcements:

The National Reentry Resource Center is a project of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Please see the Center’s website at http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/. Please see “Federal Interagency Reentry Council Launches Website, Releases Myth-Buster Series” on the front page of the site (see announcements). CSOSA is a member of the Council.

Several requesters have asked for national research on reentry. The Office of Justice Program’s National Institute of Justice reentry research portfolio supports the evaluation of innovative reentry programs. To access these studies and NIJ’s entire reentry research portfolio visit www.nij.gov/nij/topics/corrections/reentry/welcome.htm .

The Louisiana Department of Corrections/Division of Probation and Parole is offering radio shows on offender reentry. Please visit their website at .

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency:

We welcome your comments or suggestions at leonard.sipes@csosa.gov .

The website for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency is http://www.csosa.gov/.

The program is hosted by Leonard Sipes. The producer is Timothy Barnes.

Comments offered on “DC Public Safety” television and radio programs are the opinions of participants and do not necessarily represent the policies of CSOSA or other government agencies.

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