Long-Term Answer To Recidivism Is More Jobs And Better Education But Can We Afford To Wait And See?

photo courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

USA Today's news item for Thursday summed it up for Delaware prison reform - we send 8 of 10 people sentenced to more than a year in prison back into the can for a serious offense within 3 years of release.

NEWS: State House GOP Caucus writes ~

Delaware Prisons Filled 

with Repeat Offenders 

A report released this week by the Delaware Criminal Justice Council Statistical Analysis Center contained some sobering information on recidivism in The First State.

Looking at inmates who completed their sentences in 2008 and 2009, the report concluded that more than 67-percent of each cohort was back in prison within three years of their release.

State Rep. Steve Smyk, who is a member of the House Corrections Committee and a retired Delaware State Police officer, said the problem of recidivism is a tangled knot that will take a multifaceted approach to address.  "There will be no easy solutions to reducing this rate, but the economic, societal and human rewards of success make it well worth pursuing."

The report, the first such analysis conducted in 13 years, is the result of a bipartisan omnibus reform law enacted in 2012.  That legislation (Senate Bill 226 w/SA 1) implemented a number of recommendations by a task force charged with studying Delaware's criminal justice and correctional systems and identifying steps to enhance public safety, hold offenders more accountable, improve probation and parole supervision, lower recidivism rates, and explore the reasons for rising prison costs.

 

Click here to read: "Recidivism in Delaware: An Analysis of Prisoners Released in 2008 and 2009."

Also from the House GOP - OPINION:

State Needs Coordinated Strategy for Job Creation

By State Rep. Danny Short

Delaware remains lagging behind most of the country in job creation.

When the recession started in January 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there were 441,500 people employed in non-farm jobs in our state.  According to economists, the recession officially ended four years ago (June 2009), at which point our employed workforce had fallen to 415,900. 

Recovery has been slow.  Recently released U.S. Department of Labor data shows that 43 states have done better at recovering the jobs lost during the recession.  Last month, there were 422,800 people working in The First State, or 18,700 fewer than at the start of the recession.  Only Florida, Alabama, Arizona and Nevada have fared worse.  New Mexico and Oregon tied Delaware's lackluster performance of -4.2 percent.

This comes on the heels of information released by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis that revealed Delaware ranked 49th among the 50 states in terms of real gross domestic product.

While U.S. unemployment has trended down over the last 12 months, falling from 8.2 percent to 7.6 percent, Delaware's unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 7.3 percent last month - an increase of 300 people without jobs since last June.

In another sign of our sluggish economy, the number of people using food stamps in Delaware is significantly higher now than it was three years ago.  In January 2010, six months after the recovery began, there were 109,215 Delawareans enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported this week that there were nearly 154,000 Delawareans - or about one-in-every-six state residents - receiving food stamps as of April.

Nearly every state has faced challenges in the wake of the recession, but the administration of Gov. Jack Markell and the Democratic majority in the General Assembly have not given these problems the attention they warrant.

That is not to say this past legislative session did not contain some positive developments for our state's employers.  We enacted Worker's Compensation Insurance reforms and implemented a plan for restoring the integrity of the safety net for helping the jobless.  We also saw state agencies institute some modest regulatory reforms.

However, these worthy bipartisan efforts were virtual sideshows to debates over legalizing same-sex marriage, gender identity discrimination, and gun control - discussions that monopolized our time and attention, preventing any meaningful effort to get the local economy moving and setting the stage for new employment opportunities.

At a press conference in Milwaukee earlier today (August 2), in his role as the chairman of the National Governors Association, Gov. Markell released a blueprint to increase the hiring of people with disabilities.  The findings and recommendations were compiled during a year-long project led by Gov. Markell.

This is a laudable effort that appears to have yielded results.

Now that this project is over, I would like to see Gov. Markell bring that same focus and spirit of inclusion and cooperation back to Delaware to work with lawmakers of both parties in drafting an action plan for increasing the hiring of Delawareans seeking quality employment.

When our General Assembly and governor have worked cooperatively in the past, we have been able to achieve stunning results.

Our state became a financial industry leader by identifying opportunities and acting collectively to pass laws like the Financial Center Development Act of 1981 and the Bank Insurance Powers Act of 1995.  We continue to regularly update our corporate and banking laws to try to maintain our position in the financial services marketplace.

By contrast, our state's current economic development strategy has seemingly lost its way.  It feels like we are treading water, grabbing at the occasional piece of driftwood that floats by, but not decisively striking out in any particular direction with a sense of purpose.

It is past time for us to develop a coordinated strategy focused on job growth.

Our state faces a potential budget shortfall in the next fiscal year, while unemployment remains uncomfortably high, and the local economy continues to sputter.  An organized effort to create jobs in our state holds the promise of remedying all three ills.

Jack Markell ran on a platform in 2008 of Reentry - Prison recidivism reform. We saw a lot of talk in Cabinet-level pow wows and the end-all be-all creation of I-Adapt. Not much good came out of it. This is his crappy record whether he likes it or not. The buck stops with the Governor.

Also see: News Journal Op-Ed ~ Use statistics to better state’s criminal justice system

Due to a remarkable depth of research and statistical analysis, the governor, state legislators and ev­ery Delawarean now have detailed information about how and why former criminals are returning to jail and the state prisons after their initial release.

However, The Criminal Justice Council’s “Recidivism in Delaware: An Analysis of Prisoners Released in 2008 and 2009” report released this week is more important than a record-keeping tally. The data sup­plies a credible argument for pro­grams and services to end the re­volving door of incarceration before and after release to develop useful government actions. Specifically, those that directly address the pub­lic safety risks and taxpayer costs incurred. The weight of the document fo­cuses on inmates released during that two-year window. The report shows:

» In the first year, more than half former inmates get rearrested and reconvicted of a new crime. And practically half get recommitted to jail or more prison time.

» By the end of three years, more than 75 percent in both groups gets arrested for a serious crime, 71 per­cent are reconvicted and 67 percent return behind bars.

These numbers are useful for capturing a picture of how we’ve been doing since 2002.

Which is not good, considering that most arrest-worthy crimes start in the first two years of an ex-offender’s freedom.

At the same time, the data pro­vides the necessary facts to rebut the usual assumptions about these so-called “re-offenders.”

“Recidivism rates were highest among those offenders who served time for property offenses when compared to the rates for those serving violent or public,” CJC Ex­ecutive Director Drewry Fennell said in one example.

In fact, the report is literally what Gov. Jack Markell and the General Assembly ordered two years ago when he signed Executive Order No. 27, mandating an annual report on recidivism rates so that efforts to promote successful re­entry can be measured against a meaningful baseline.

Not since 2002 has Delaware been able to reliably put a count on the number of inmates it releases from jails and prisoners.

And the report breaks down de­mographics that align with the pub­lic’s fears and views regarding age­related crimes: Those younger than 24 had significantly higher recidivism rates than those older than 45. Men were more likely to recidivate than women, and younger offenders were more likely to re-offend than older offenders.

All of which Attorney General Beau Biden says highlights an alarming rate of recidivism that needs to be ad­dressed with more court resources to make sure the length of sentences reflect the crime’s seriousness and serve “as a significant and meaningful deterrent to re-offending.”

We can’t agree more, particularly in regard to his recommendation for more precise sentencing measures, based on an “individual inmates’ reha­bilitative needs,” as well as the deliv­ery of credible service to address the mental health, job readiness and sub­stance abuse issues before, not after incarceration.

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