[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 4, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2365-S2366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PAUL (for himself and Mr. Booker):
  S. 827. A bill to provide for the sealing or expungement of records 
relating to Federal nonviolent criminal offenses, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Record 
Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act, or REDEEM Act. This 
bill would take meaningful steps towards allowing returning citizens to 
obtain employment. As President George W. Bush said in his 2004 State 
of the Union Address, ``America is the land of the second chance, and 
when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a 
better life.'' The REDEEM Act would help provide people with that 
second chance after their incarceration. I thank Senator Paul for his 
tireless work with me on the REDEEM Act.
  In the last 30 years, the number of incarcerated people in the United 
States has drastically increased. Since 1980, the federal prison 
population alone has grown by nearly 800 percent and American taxpayers 
are left paying for the bill. In fiscal year 2014, the Bureau of 
Prisons accounted for a quarter of the Department of Justice's budget 
at $6.9 billion. Our bloated criminal justice system wastes priceless 
human potential and fails to make our communities safer. It also fails 
to adequately prepare the over 600,000 people each year who are 
released from prison for their return to the community.
  A high number of Americans living in our communities have criminal 
convictions. About 70 million people in the United States have been 
arrested or convicted of a crime. That means almost one in three adults 
in the United States has a criminal record. In fact, in our Nation's 
Capital alone, an estimated 1 in 10 DC residents has a criminal record.
  The American Bar Association has identified over 44,500 ``collateral 
consequences''--or legal constraints--placed on what individuals with 
records can do once they are released from prison. Of those, up to 70 
percent are related to employment.
  Today, a criminal conviction is a modern-day scarlet letter that, 
because of the so-called War on Drugs, has had a disproportionate 
impact on communities of color. For example, African-American men with 
a conviction are 40 percent less likely to receive an interview. And 
the likelihood that Latino men with a record will receive an interview 
or be offered a job is 18 percent smaller than the likelihood for white 
men.
  To increase public safety, reduce recidivism, and protect the future 
of our children, I am proud to re-introduce the REDEEM Act. This bill 
would incentivize states to raise the age of original jurisdiction for 
criminal courts to 18 years old. Trying juveniles who have committed 
low-level, nonviolent crimes as adults is counterproductive. They do 
not emerge from prison reformed and ready to reintegrate into school, 
nor will the criminal record they have help them obtain a job.
  This change in law is important for protecting our children's 
futures. For kids in the dozen states that treat 17- and even 16-year-
olds as adults, no longer would getting into a school yard scuffle 
result in an adult record that could follow an individual for the rest 
of their life, restrict access to a college degree, limit job 
prospects, or lead to likely recidivism.
  The bill would enhance Federal juvenile record confidentiality and 
provide for automatic expungement of records for kids who commit 
nonviolent crimes before they turn 15 and automatic sealing of records 
for those who commit nonviolent crimes after they turn 15.
  The bill would ban the very cruel and counterproductive practice of 
juvenile solitary confinement that can have immediate and long-term 
detrimental effects on a youth's mental and physical health. In fact, 
the majority of suicides by juveniles in prisons occur when young 
people are placed in solitary confinement. Other nations even consider 
it torture.
  The REDEEM Act would, for adults, offer the first broad-based federal 
path to the sealing of criminal records. A person who commits a 
nonviolent crime will be able to petition a court for sealing of the 
record, so their future job prospects are not harmed.
  And the bill would enhance the accuracy of criminal justice records. 
Employers requesting a background check from the FBI will be provided 
with only relevant and accurate information thanks to a provision that 
will protect job applicants by improving the quality of the Bureau's 
background check.
  Think about this: 17 million background checks were done by the FBI 
in 2013, many of them for private providers, and upward of half of them 
were

[[Page S2366]]

inaccurate or incomplete, often causing people to lose a job, miss an 
economic opportunity, and be trapped with few economic options other 
than to reoffend in order to feed a child or pay a debt.
  The bill helps guard against gender disparities in federal juvenile 
delinquency proceedings. Additionally, it would ensure that programming 
and services are distributed evenly among male and female juveniles. 
Oftentimes, juvenile females receive less programming and resources 
than males because of the smaller size of the female prison population. 
This is wrong and this bill take a step forward to fix the problem.
  Finally, the REDEEM Act would lift a ban on two critical Federal 
benefits: the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families. The intent of those Federal programs is 
to keep low-income families from going hungry. Yet those convicted of 
drug felonies lose the right to obtain such benefits. Once an 
individual has paid his or her debt to society, a path to the 
reinstatement of those benefits should be available.
  I am proud to introduce the REDEEM Act today. Again, I thank Senator 
Paul for partnering with me on this bill. I urge this bill's speedy 
passage.
                                 ______