[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4015]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    PASSAGE OF THE SECOND CHANCE ACT

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I seek recognition to comment on the 
passage of the Second Chance Act. I thank my colleagues Senators 
Brownback, Biden, and Leahy, who are original cosponsors of this bill, 
for their tireless advocacy for this long-needed legislation and my 
other colleagues for their support of the bill, which passed the Senate 
by unanimous consent.
  Each year, as many as 700,000 offenders will be released from prison 
or jail. Unfortunately, approximately two-thirds of those individuals 
will be rearrested within 3 years of their release. The consequences of 
such high recidivism rates are disastrous for our Nation. Each year, 
approximately 1.5 million Americans become victims of violent crime. 
The total pecuniary and non-pecuniary cost of crime has been estimated 
to be as much as $2 trillion annually--or 17 percent of the gross 
domestic product. Much of this cost comes directly out of taxpayers' 
pockets--the cost of keeping a prisoner in jail is as high as $30,000 
per year. The cumulative cost to the Federal Government is 
approximately $60 billion annually. High crime and recidivism rates 
have also proven cyclical in nature: with 2.3 million of offenders in 
prison and jail, nearly 2 million American children spend part of the 
year without their parent--a factor known to put those children at risk 
of later committing crimes themselves.
  The likelihood that a prisoner will leave prison or jail, return to 
their family and community, obtain a job, and lead a productive and 
law-abiding life increases dramatically with increasing levels of 
education, job training, and substance abuse treatment. Yet, a few 
basic statistics demonstrate just how ill-equipped the 650,000 
prisoners who will return to our neighborhoods and communities are to 
accomplish these basic objectives. Seventy percent of ex-offenders 
operate at the lowest levels of literacy. The majority struggle with 
drug and alcohol addiction--as many as 70 percent of prisoners were 
regular drug users prior to being convicted. Nearly 60 percent of ex-
offenders will be unemployed a year after they are released from 
prison.
  The Second Chance Act will help break this dangerous cycle of 
recidivism. The bill will encourage realistic rehabilitation by 
providing prisoners who seek to turn their lives around with the 
education, literacy training, job training, employment assistance and 
substance abuse treatment they need to do so. The Second Chance Act 
will also enhance the proven-effective prison mentoring programs 
through which church members and community members provide 
individualized mentoring to prisoners who want to turn their lives 
around. The Second Chance Act draws on the experiences of many 
governmental, community, and non-profit organizations that are 
operating successful reentry programs around the country. For example, 
Pennsylvania's Community Orientation and Reintegration project, the 
Boston Reentry Initiative, and the Kansas Reentry Program have 
shepherded the way toward achieving lasting reductions in recidivism 
rates through innovative approaches to job training and education, 
family reunification, and public safety.
  The Second Chance Act that will be signed by the President represents 
the tireless efforts of a tremendous bipartisan coalition from both 
houses of Congress. I am particularly thankful for the leadership of 
Senator Brownback, Senator Biden, and Senator Leahy who have worked 
with me for years to negotiate the bill's final language. As a result 
of these negotiations, the grant programs in the bill are focused and 
streamlined, and provide for the kind of accountability we need to 
ensure that the programs operated under the bill meet their goal of 
achieving real reductions in recidivism rates. I am pleased that the 
bill has the support of over 200 organizations from both ends of the 
ideological spectrum and is supported by the Department of Justice and 
the Department of Labor.
  I thank my colleagues for their support of this important 
legislation. The Second Chance Act takes an important step toward 
closing the revolving doors of our prisons and keeping our 
neighborhoods and communities safe.
  I yield the floor.

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