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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:06 pm
Time: 11:06 pm
Results for criminal history
5 results foundAuthor: Frase, Richard S. Title: Criminal History Enhancements Sourcebook Summary: An offender's criminal history (record of prior convictions) is a major sentencing factor in all American jurisdictions that have implemented sentencing guidelines - offenders in the highest criminal history category often have recommended prison sentences that are many times longer than the recommended sentences for offenders in the lowest category. Criminal history sentence enhancements thus substantially increase the size and expense of prison populations; and since offenders with higher criminal history scores tend to be older, the result is often to fill expensive prison beds with offenders who are past their peak offending years. Such enhancements also have a strong disparate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, and undercut the goal of making sentence severity proportional to offense severity. The Criminal History Project of the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice surveys the widely varying criminal history formulas found in guidelines systems, and encourages these systems to examine their use of criminal history to determine whether it is operating in a just and cost-effective manner. Details: Minneapolis, MN: Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, University of Minnesota, 2016. 124p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2016 at: http://robinainstitute.umn.edu/publications/criminal-history-enhancements-sourcebook/ Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://robinainstitute.umn.edu/publications/criminal-history-enhancements-sourcebook/ Shelf Number: 140451 Keywords: Criminal HistoryCriminal RecordsSentencingSentencing Guidelines |
Author: Tesfai, Afomeia Title: The Long Road Home: Decreasing Barriers to Public Housing for People with Criminal Records Summary: Housing is a fundamental necessity to effectively integrate formerly incarcerated individuals with their families and communities. Lacking stable housing negatively affects mental and physical health, employment, income, access to healthcare services, family unity, and recidivism. Research and analysis reveal that historical policies have created racial inequities in housing and health outcomes, and that public housing admissions screening policies play an important role in creating the conditions for successful reentry of those people who were incarcerated. In a survey from the 2015 Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Forward Together report, "Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families", 79% of people who had been incarcerated were either ineligible or denied public housing as a result of criminal history. More than half of those released from jail or prison have unstable or nonexistent housing. This report assesses the health and equity impacts of public housing admissions screening policies that exclude people with a criminal history from public housing, using the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) in Oakland, California as a case study. Having housing improves health directly and indirectly, decreases recidivism, improves the chance of becoming employed and having more income, and helps with family reunification. These factors, known in public health as the "social determinants of health", create opportunities to succeed and are known to be important for health and wellbeing. For example: - Moving often affects recidivism. The odds of recidivism increase by at least 70% for every time someone who is formerly incarcerated changes their residence. - Six randomized control trials analyzed supported employment in public housing against other approaches to help residents find jobs, and found 58% of public housing program participants obtained employment compared to 21% in the control group. - More than 70% of those leaving prison indicated that family is an important factor in keeping them out of prison, and up to 82% of people leaving prison or jail expect to live with or get help from their families. - Having stable housing upon leaving jail or prison decreases a person's chance of having their probation revoked. The outcomes stemming from having stable and affordable housing are clear: research shows that lack of stable and affordable housing forces families to frequently move and live in unhealthy and crowded environments, increases stress and depression, and can lead to homelessness. Homelessness brings higher rates of infectious diseases; substance use and mental health disorders; exposure to violence; overexposure to cold and rain; and suicide. Studies show that between 25% - 50% of people who are homeless have a history of involvement with the criminal justice system. Those who have been involved with the criminal justice system are disproportionately people of color, low income, and mentally ill and, due to the intersection of these factors, are at high risk for housing instability and negative health outcomes. The United States has a history of racial discrimination and unjust treatment towards people of color, dating back to slavery, Black Codes, and Jim Crow laws. With the War on Drugs in the 1970's, 80's and 90's, this history is currently manifested in criminal justice policies that have led to vastly disproportionate outcomes by race. The 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that 9.5% of whites and 10.5% of Blacks used illicit drugs in the last month, but drug-related arrest rates are 332 per 100,000 residents for Whites and 879 per 100,000 for Blacks. Compared to their White counterparts, Blacks are more likely to be incarcerated for the same crime and receive longer sentences. A series of federal laws enacted in the 1990's led to decreased access to public housing for people with a criminal history. In 2002, for example, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld PHAs' authority to evict an entire household based on the criminal activity of one member or guest without specific proof that the tenant had any knowledge of the activity. Statistics and historical policies like these have resulted in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) releasing guidance on April 4, 2016 explicitly stating their goal of increasing access to safe, secure, and affordable housing for formerly incarcerated people. The 2016 guidance states that, due to the extreme over-representation of people of color in the criminal justice system, the consideration of criminal histories in screening procedures used by housing providers, including Public Housing Authorities, may lead to violations of the Fair Housing Act. This report examines the Oakland Housing Authority as a case study. We consider OHA's screening policies and practices and specifically how they consider the presentation of "mitigating circumstances" for people with a criminal history during the application process. In Alameda County in 2014, there were almost 4,800 people returning from state prison, 3,200 people were in county jail on any give day, and 1 out 4 people have a criminal record. We estimate that at least 20,000 people are currently at risk of residential instability because of their criminal history. Because they are vastly over-represented in the criminal justice system, this places an inequitable burden on Blacks. Details: Oakland, CA: Human Impact Partners, 2016. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2016 at: http://www.ellabakercenter.org/sites/default/files/media/OHA-HIA-Final-Report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.ellabakercenter.org/sites/default/files/media/OHA-HIA-Final-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 146144 Keywords: Criminal HistoryEx-OffendersHousingPrisoner ReentryRetrictive Housing |
Author: Kyckelhahn, Tracey Title: The Past Predicts the Future: Criminal History and Recidivism of Federal Offenders Summary: The United States Sentencing Commission began studying recidivism shortly after the enactment of the Sentencing Reform Act of 19842 ("SRA"). The Commission's recent publication Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview ("Recidivism Overview Report") discussed the history of this study in greater detail. Recidivism information is central to three of the primary purposes of punishment as described in the SRA - specific deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation—all of which focus on prevention of future crimes through correctional intervention. Information about recidivism is also relevant to the Commission's obligation to formulate sentencing policy that "reflect[s], to the extent practicable, advancements in knowledge of human behavior as it relates to the sentencing process." Considerations of recidivism by federal offenders were also central to the Commission's initial work in developing the Guidelines Manual's criminal history provisions. They remained important to subsequent work and continue to be a key consideration in the Commission's work today. Recent developments, particularly public attention to the size of the federal prison population and the cost of incarceration, have refocused the Commission's interest on the recidivism of federal offenders. The Commission's current recidivism research substantially expands on the scope of previous Commission recidivism projects. In addition to a different set of offenders - U.S. citizen federal offenders released from prison or placed on probation in 2005 - the project's study group is much larger than those in previous Commission studies and follows the offenders for a longer period of time (eight years). This cohort was expanded to include offenders released in 2004 and 2006 for those offenders who received sentencing enhancements under the career offender guideline or the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) due to the small number of these offenders released in 2005 alone. This larger study group provides the opportunity to develop statistically useful conclusions about many subgroups of federal offenders. The focus of this report is the 25,431 U.S. citizen federal offenders released from prison or placed on probation in calendar year 2005. These offenders were originally sentenced between fiscal year 1991 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2006. The findings included in this report build on those in the Recidivism Overview Report. Information about the components of Chapter Four of the Guidelines Manual - including total criminal history score, criminal history category, and point assignments for types of past convictions - and their association with recidivism are contained in this report. Analyses of the type of instant offense and recidivism are also contained in this report. As noted in the Recidivism Overview Report, recidivism correlates strongly with both criminal history and age at release.11 In general, recidivism is higher for younger offenders and for those with greater criminal history. As an individual offender's criminal record cannot decrease with age, only stay constant or increase, older offenders will on average have greater criminal history than younger offenders. Given this relationship between age, criminal history, and recidivism, the analyses in this report will include offenders grouped by age when there is sufficient population to provide meaningful results. Details: Washington, DC: United States Sentencing Commission, 2017. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 14, 2017 at: https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-publications/2017/20170309_Recidivism-CH.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-publications/2017/20170309_Recidivism-CH.pdf Shelf Number: 148172 Keywords: Criminal HistoryFederal Offenders Recidivism |
Author: Weaver, Beth Title: Time for Policy Redemption? A Review of the Evidence on Disclosure of Criminal Records Summary: There is wide variation in disclosure practices within and between the U.S, the U.K and Europe, although there is some consensus that reasons for checking criminal records by employers include: minimising risk of liability and loss; concerns surrounding public protection where the nature of employment includes working with vulnerable groups; assessments of moral character in terms of honesty and trustworthiness; and compliance with statutory occupational requirements (Blumstein and Nakamura, 2009). As the use of criminal record background checks by employers has become increasingly pervasive, having a criminal record can have significant effects on employment prospects producing 'invisible punishment' or 'collateral consequences' of contact with the justice system (Travis 2002). Taking into account that over 38% of men and 9% of women in Scotland are estimated to have at least one criminal conviction (McGuinness, McNeill and Armstrong, 2013), issues surrounding criminal record checking and disclosure in an employment context affect a large proportion of people. In recent years, reforms to both the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and to practices of disclosure have been and are being implemented, with the aim of reducing unnecessary barriers to employment for people with convictions while promoting the protection of vulnerable groups. Additionally, a social movement to 'Ban the Box' aims to eliminate criminal history questions from standard employment applications by deferring the stage at which an employer can inquire into criminal history (Smith, 2014), based on the belief that employers use that information to immediately eliminate those with convictions from consideration. 'Ban the Box' aims to support those with convictions to be considered on the basis of their skills and experience before disclosing criminal histories (Vuolo, Lageson and Uggen, 2017). In the USA around 30 states and over 150 cities and counties have taken steps to remove barriers to employment for qualified workers with records.3 In the UK, 87 employers have signed up to 'Ban the Box'.4 How this is implemented in the USA is variable but most call for the removal of any criminal record question on applications for public and private employers. Many also include fairer hiring practice provisions informed by the guidance document issued by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2012. This document was designed to clarify standards and provide 'best practice' on how employers may check criminal backgrounds without violating prohibitions against employment discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (EEOC 2012). This proposes that employers assess criminal records on an individualised basis, considering factors such as the nature of the crime, the time elapsed since it was committed, and the nature of the job (Lageson, Vuolo, Uggen, 2015). There is some evidence that the move to more formal, regulated checks has led employers to more people with criminal records for employment than they might have previously (Hartstein, Fliegel, Mora and Zuba, 2015; Lageson, et al., 2015). These guidelines are, in part at least, informed by 'Time to Redemption' studies which empirically investigate the period of time when people with convictions can statistically be considered as exhibiting the same risk of reconviction as people with no convictions. In what follows, the findings of these 'Time to Redemption' studies are discussed, following a brief review of the evidence into the relationship between employment and desistance. This paper then explores research into employers' attitudes, beliefs and behaviours with regard to the employment of people with convictions, prior to exploring practices of disclosure and vetting in the UK, Europe and the USA. Existing practices of disclosure tend to retain the requirement that certain spent convictions will always be disclosed in certain circumstances, for the purposes of public protection. By contrast, time to redemption research measures the extent to which people with convictions become statistically close to people without convictions in terms of risk, taking into account age at offence, periods of desistance and crime type, suggesting that in general that period is between 7 and 10 years. This paper suggests that the findings of Time to Redemption studies allows for information pertaining to criminal histories to be used in a more nuanced way, concluding by bringing together these different areas of inquiry to consider implications for approaches to reform. In so doing, this paper ends by reviewing four, not necessarily mutually exclusive, approaches to reform, that might bring Scotland and the UK into closer alignment with European practices and the European Convention on Human Rights, and in particular, Article 8 which provides a right to respect for one's private and family life, home and correspondence. These approaches, based on a review of and informed by the evidence include: (1) reviewing spent periods and the issue of enduringly unspent convictions; (2) certificates of rehabilitation; (3) court imposed Occupational Disqualification; and the (4) guidance and revisions to anti-discrimination legislation. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 17, 2018 at: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Weaver_Time-For-Policy-Redemption1.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Weaver_Time-For-Policy-Redemption1.pdf Shelf Number: 149836 Keywords: Collateral ConsequencesCriminal History Criminal Records Ex-Offender Employment |
Author: Kurlychek, Megan Title: Impact of Criminal Record Sealing on State and National Estimates of Offenders and Their Offending Careers Summary: This report examines the extent to which statistical estimates of offender populations, criminal careers, and recidivism rates are impacted by the sealing of criminal records. The paper focuses on New York state, which has some of the nation's most extensive record-sealing policies. The report highlights the need to understand state-specific criminal history recording and reporting practices when calculating national estimates of offending patterns and performing cross-jurisdictional comparisons. Data are from BJS's Adult Criminal Trajectories of Juvenile Offenders Project, which tracked the criminal history patterns of persons arrested at age 16 or 17 in New York in 2001 for a 10-year period. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2019. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 18, 2019 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/250561.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/250561.pdf Shelf Number: 154650 Keywords: Criminal Careers Criminal HistoryCriminal Records Recidivism |