Posted on 07/15/2002 4:04:21 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
DETROIT, Mich., July 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands will share $100 million in grant funds through the new Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today. A total of 68 grants will be awarded to support efforts to ensure public safety and reduce victimization by helping returning offenders become productive members of their communities, providing education, job and life skills training, and substance abuse treatment, while carefully monitoring their activities after release.
The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative is an unprecedented collaboration among the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor and Veterans Affairs.
"This initiative helps provide individuals who have been released from prison the opportunity to become productive citizens and members of society," said Ashcroft. "The reentry programs aid in making sure these individuals will not return to a life of crime."
An estimated 630,000 offenders were released from prison last year, with an estimated 160,000 of those being violent offenders. The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative will build on innovative reentry efforts in states for both juveniles and adults with the goal that these efforts serve as nationwide prototypes. Communities will utilize existing federal, state and local resources, while grant funds will be used to address additional specific needs. Local efforts will require close coordination among institutional and community corrections, law enforcement, education, job training and placement, and other service providers, including faith-and community-based organizations.
Reentry efforts will begin while offenders are still in correctional facilities, continue through offenders' transition back into the community and help sustain ex-offenders through services such as employment training and substance abuse and mental health treatment. Efforts will be tailored to any one, or combination of, the following age groups: Youth (ages 14-17); Young Adult (ages 18-24) and Adult (ages 25-plus). These efforts require close coordination among institutional corrections, law enforcement, community corrections and other community-based service providers.
The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative is designed to address three stages an offender goes through when returning to the community. The process involves education, parenting instruction, vocational training, treatment and life skills programs while offenders are in institutions, services and supervision as they reenter the community and networks of agencies and individuals to support offenders as they become productive and law-abiding members of their communities.
The federal partners joined together to help state and local agencies navigate the complex field of existing grant programs and to assist them in accessing, redeploying, and leveraging those resources to support all components of a comprehensive reentry program.
The federal partners will fund a national evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative to look at the long-term effectiveness of the program.
I'm guessing none will be cut loose in Malibu CA., Hyannisport Mass., or in John Ashcroft's own neighborhood.
Yeah I know this is from Newswire. They tend to be on the liberal side, a philosophy which is redundant redundant to begin with.
Sounds to me like just some more bureaucratic Horse Hockey. How about the kid who was "convicted" of a drug related felony when he was 18 and has totally turned around his life, become a model citizen for several decades, created a business, paid his taxes? He's not even able to vote in many jurisdictions and is not even allowed to own a shotgun for hunting. And he's not asking for one damned dollar of taxpayers' money.
I'd be willing to spend a few dollars on the miscreants in the article - after they've shown me 20 years of a turned aaround life. Until then, not one damned dollar.
Its not like you have a choice, comrade. They will spend your money the way they see fit or they will put you in the cage.
Right. Do you think we ought to be registering every one of them and notifying everyone of their presence, for life?
Wondering how he ever got back into society with the long rap sheet he has.
Unless and until a person repents, shows remorse and makes restitution for their crime, few are safe to be turned loose on an unsuspecting community. It is not Christian to let unrepentent savages live (and do their thing) to a law abiding public. With all the plea bargaining and legal shenenagans lawyers pull on behalf of the criminals, even a prison sentence is a joke. Very little time is served for even the vilest crime.
Really? I have something that will tickle you pink..............
.....how about we start with non-violent offenders first. Prisoners being held in the WOD, those that haven't committed any violent offenses. Then come back and tell me all about it; a rapist being given more consideration than some of these folks. Indeed.
....and how many of these will we be releasing first?
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