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• Locating employment

• Parole or probation commitments

• Stable housing and transportation

• Court fees and restitution

• Credit/debt related issues

• College entrance and retention

Universal Challenges

• Therapeutic programming

• Required trainings

• Adherence to transitional housing rules

• Curfews

• Preconceived notions regarding parole/probation officers

• Laws relating to convictions that do not offer parole/probation leniency

• Judgements based on crimes of convictions by some parole-probation staff

Parole and probation commitments

• Sentencing fees• Restitutions(payments for stolen monies) for fiduciary

crimes

o Can result in wage garnishment

Court imposed fees often lead to CJ related debt that carry severe consequences. These fees include:

Court-imposed fees and restitution

• Affordable housing in urban areas is a challenge

• Access to transportation from rural/suburban areas

• Some may be barred from driving or owning a car

• Added fees associated with permission to drive for certain convictions(Breath Analyzed Ignition Interlock Device)

• Fees associated with being on parole/probation

Stable housing and transportation

• Acclimation

• Learning Campus Culture

• Transcripts and Learning Disabilities Documents

• Technology

• Previous School Debt

• People in Registry

• Academic & Career Advisement

• Proprietary Schools

Challenges and College Retention

Women’s challenges• More challenges related to improving familial relationships

• Some states impose bans to receiving public assistance for persons with felony

drug convictions

o This impacts more women since they are usually the ones responsible for

children, and families upon release

Gender-Specific Challenges

Men’s challenges• 54% of whom were the primary earners for their children prior to

incarceration, while incarcerated, were unable to keep up with child support payments

• Challenges for failure to enlist with Selective Service Under Section 453(a) of the Military Selective Service Act

o Can be denied financial aid due to failure to enlist

Pew Charitable Trusts, Collateral Consequences: Incarceration Economic Effects on Economic Mobility, 2010

A Closer Look at Employment Challenges

For employers, caution is paramount: their primary concerns are liability, and maintaining the safety and security of their customers, staff, and the fidelity of their products and/or services.

• Absence from the labor market raises a red flag, leading employers to assume CJ affected people would not perform well

• Some employers do not have the capacity to offer on the job training

Employers are Leery

• Interruption of formal education, basic job skills, and social networking caused by incarceration compound employment challenges

• Lack of easily marketable skills prior to incarceration, and overall limited work history

• For those who do secure employment, they’re often paid 40% less than someone that hasn’t had contact with the criminal justice system

Work History Reality

Those who have had contact, may be unaware of certain legal protections and processes to overcome barriers

• Do not know how to correct inaccuracies on rap sheets

• Are not aware of the importance of credit or how to repair credit

Lack of Information

The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section identified 38,000 statutes that create barriers to jobs, housing, government benefits and voting

80% of the statutes imposed barriers to employment opportunities including:

• Background Checks• Credit Checks

Exclusionary Practices

Background Checks

• A 2012 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, found that 86% of employers use criminal background checks on at least some candidates

o 69% checked all candidates

• In a similar 2010 survey by the same group, 31% of employerssaid an arrest without conviction would at least be “somewhatinfluential” in their hiring decision.

N.Y. Times reported after 9/11, the government mandated the exclusion of anyone with a conviction in a seven-year time frame from working at the nation’s ports.

• 59,000 people were excluded from obtaining employment

• 30,000 of those workers filed appeals due to inaccuracies on their background checks

• 25,000 were found not to have felony convictions by the GAO

… “no single source exists that provides complete and up to date information about a person’s criminal history…”

-U.S. Department of Justice

The outcome of a study conducted on California employers reflected employers who knew the nature of the offenses would consider hiring CJ-affected people

• 23% willing to hire a person with a drug-offense• 84% of employers would consider someone with a

misdemeanor

Another study in California over a 20 year period showed people convicted of murder least likely to reoffend. Out of 988 people:

• 1% were arrested for new crime• 10% for violating parole• None were rearrested for murder

• HR staff may not have worked with someone who has had contact with CJ affected people before, so lack a point of reference

• If an employer has had one bad experience with a CJ affected person, that experience becomes reflective of an entire group of people

• Messaging in the media perpetuates fear

Stigma, Sensationalism, Bias

• Employers are often unaware that, while incarcerated, people can learn transferrable vocational trades, skills and education in some correctional facilities

• Also unaware of incentives for hiring CJ- affected, or their local regulatory environment

Employers Just Don’t Know…

Federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)

• Available to employers for hiring individuals from certain target

groups who face barriers to employment such as CJ affected

• Tax credits range from $1,200 to $9,600

Hiring Incentives & Protections

Federal Bonding Program

Free protection for both employers and potential employees. Created

in 1966 by the federal government

• Provides up to 6 months of fidelity bond protection in case of theft

or intellectual property loss for new hires, up to $5,000

• Each state has a bonding program at the Department of Labor

Office

Hiring Incentives & Protections

Work Ethics

Oftentimes CJ-affected people feel they have to work harder than

others to prove themselves as even stated by our students

Hiring Incentives & Protections

John Hopkins Medicine International conducted 5 year study that tracked 500 employees with convictions and found:

• Lower staff turnover than non-cj affected staff for the first 40

months

• Out of 79% of persons that had ‘serious convictions’ over a 3-6 year period 73% of people were still employed at John Hopkins by the end of the study

• 1 person was terminated

Research and Work Ethics

• More people are reliant on often short-term government benefits

• Taxpayers money covering the cost of housing and feeding

millions of incarcerated people.

• It also covers:

• Employing prison staff: including overtime, pension, worker’s

compensation, and employee health insurance

• Health care professionals contracted to provide in prison care

Impact on Economy

Putting 100 formerly incarcerated persons back to work would

• Increase their income tax contributions by$1.9 million

• Boost sales tax revenue by$770,000

• Save $2 million annually by keeping people out of the criminal justice system

In 2012, the US spent $74 billion on

federal, state, and local

corrections

Bureau of Justice Statistics reports 89% of formerly incarcerated peoplewho were rearrested within a five-year timeframe were unemployed

In 2014, economists:

• Analyzed data based on gender, race, education level of people ages 18-

64 with convictions or who were formerly incarcerated

• Concluded the labor force was negatively impacted due to the exclusion

of people with felony convictions (particularly black males who

represent the largest number of people impacted by convictions and

incarceration)

• $78-$87 million-dollar loss in the nation’s gross domestic product

(GDP) in 2014

THRIVE Technical Assistance Program

What is THRIVE?

THRIVE is a technical assistance program that utilizes a suite of evidence-based practices, and core CCF procedures, to support the successful integration of people affected by criminal justice-involvement.

THRIVE is designed to help various agencies who work with these citizens, strengthen their service delivery, and for companies interested in enhancing their knowledge regarding this viable, under-utilized labor force within our society.

Goals of THRIVE

• Raise awareness regarding evidence-based practices, including trauma awareness, financial education, and two specific strength-focused frameworks

• Educate and engage HR staffing and managers of companies and job placement agencies regarding this untapped labor force, and about the benefits of hiring CJ-affected people

• Improve understanding of regulatory environment, including• Federal-state-and local-level policy protections for CJ-affected people,• common challenges faced CJ-affected people, and how those challenges affect

the nation, mitigation strategies for challenges faced by CJ-affected people

• Develop implementation plan to integrate evidence-based practices into agency’sculture

2017 and 2018 Technical Assistance Sites

2017 THRIVE Technical Assistance Sites

Questions?Comments?