[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17334-17335]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REFORMING OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Dold) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about an issue that we 
don't talk about nearly enough. Our country's imperfect criminal 
justice system is affecting not only the people in my district but also 
communities all across our Nation.
  Every year the Federal Government spends more than a half trillion 
dollars on anti-poverty programs. The numbers show that these 
initiatives have not solved the problem. Today there are nearly 50 
million Americans living in poverty. Over the last decade, the number 
of Americans living in our Nation's most impoverished communities--
where at least 40 percent of the families live below the poverty line--
has nearly doubled to a historic high of 14 million.
  Meanwhile, the United States prison and jail population has reached 
an all-time high, and the number of people on probation and parole has 
literally doubled. This is not a coincidence, but the numbers don't 
even begin to tell the real story.
  Solving this problem requires meaningful action and change--two 
things I would argue that Washington does not do so well. But rather 
than sitting idly by and waiting for Washington to get its act 
together, I have already begun taking action back home in Illinois' 
10th Congressional District.
  I have worked with community-level programs that have helped give 
people the tools that they need to be able to lift themselves out of 
poverty, brought in national leaders to tour our social service 
organizations across our district, and learned about the unique ways 
that these organizations are fighting poverty and working for criminal 
justice reform on the local level.
  Recently I had the privilege to introduce Bob Woodson to a few of the 
inspiring local leaders who are working on these issues. The more time 
that I spend talking with various community leaders, the more painfully 
obviously the need to implement reforms to this system becomes.
  One of the inspiring local groups working to fix some of the problems 
in our district is FIST. It stands for Former Inmates Striving Together 
in Waukegan. FIST works with the community to help individuals that are 
reentering society get what they need to reenter the workforce. It is 
no secret, Mr. Speaker, that most ex-convicts, sadly, end up back in 
prison after serving jail time. This organization, as well as others, 
is trying to change that trend by sharing positive stories and offering 
a judgment-free zone for individuals to get back up on their feet.
  Far too often, Mr. Speaker, the success stories that these 
organizations have do not get told, and, in fact, are kept a secret. 
Bob Woodson said, ``People are motivated to change and improve when 
they are shown victories that are possible, not injuries to be 
avoided.''
  One inspiring young man we had the privilege to meet was Darrell 
McBride from Waukegan. He took the time to tell us about the journey 
that he took to get to where he is today, and that story bears 
repeating. Darrell spent 8 years in prison, which left him with limited 
resources and educational opportunities. He knew that he needed a job 
and direction after he was released, or the statistics would suggest 
that he would find himself back in prison. He turned to YouthBuild Lake 
County, and since graduating from the program, he has earned a 
construction certificate and, most importantly, has landed a job.
  Mr. Speaker, it is this kind of help that we should be encouraging 
all to begin to promote within our communities. Thousands like Darrell 
would benefit greatly from criminal justice reform. While I know that 
this situation cannot simply be fixed in Washington, I certainly hope 
that we can help. One way in which I am trying to help is by 
cosponsoring and working for the passage of the Fair Chance Act 
introduced by my friend from Maryland, Representative Elijah Cummings. 
This legislation would ``ban the box'' for Federal agencies, 
prohibiting them from asking prospective government employees about 
their criminal justice histories on job applications.
  Potential employees should not use criminal history to screen out 
applicants before they have a chance to look at their qualifications. 
This policy would enable almost 20 million people to have a second 
chance and the opportunity to sell themselves to potential employers 
and make a positive contribution to our country.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to deal with what leads people to end up in 
prison to begin with. We can do this by implementing positive 
strategies and innovations such as the use of body cameras for police 
officers to fight crime and to improve transparency and accountability.
  Put simply, we need to end the era of mass incarceration, and this 
means reforming the mandatory minimum sentencing, among other policies.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that going forward we can work with groups to 
promote the success stories to help to empower individuals trying to 
turn their lives around and to work with local communities to reduce 
the rate of incarceration. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to 
go until this problem is solved, but I would like to thank 
organizations like FIST and YouthBuild for the great work that they are 
doing in Illinois' 10th Congressional District.

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