Second Chance Act - Offender Reentry

Second Chance Act - Offender Reentry

Introduction

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) is a very detailed and forceful response to the growing number of incarcerated juveniles and adults who, after serving their sentences, return to the communities. Currently, nearly 2.3 million prisoners are serving their sanctioned sentences while a lot of prisoners from tribal and domestic jails are being cycled. In Native American tribes however, the collaboration for re-entry is far too complex since there are many outlets from which these prisoners came through. With the help of the Second Chance Act, it is ensured that their return to community life is successful as far as their rehabilitation, reharmonization and public safety and security is concerned (Albanes, n.d). This Act addresses the concerns that are brought forth by the offender's re-entry through the implementation of a large number of strategies and collaborated measures to ensure a possible reduction in recidivism along with successful overcoming of related barriers. “Re-entry” cannot be regarded as a specific program; rather, it is a very comprehensive process that starts off when the offender is incarcerated in the very beginning till the very last end when he synchs with the community as a lawful citizen who knows his duties towards humanity as well as his own human rights (Frank, 2013). This process comprises of a variety of programs designed in both pre and post-release conditions, ensuring that the transformation of an offender form the confines of a prison to the community life is safe and secure.

While there are some pros and cons regarding a successful re-entry process through the Second Chance Act, it does work for every convict, provided it is successfully and effectively implemented and executed (Bush, 2008). There are no such surprising facet to the program that does not reflect itself in research based studies but the program and its underlying strategies differ from facility to facility.

Discussion

In the context of discussing about the Second Chance Act with special preference towards the offender's re-entry into the community, it is pertinent to summarize and discuss two sources of study resources that support the Second Chance Act or discredit its philosophy and criticize its underlying aspects. Following are the two research-based studies chosen for this sake:

JS Albanes's Demystifying Risk Assessment: Giving Prisoners A Second Chance At Individualized Community Confinement Under The Second Chance Act

Jim Romeo's Second Chances at Life

The first source that we have chosen “Demystifying Risk Assessment” concerns with a comprehensive evaluation of judicial responses towards the Second Chance Act while contending a very holistic overview as to determine the efficacy of the Act on real grounds (Albanes, n.d). As far as the societal measures are concerned, this study does not particularly address the social consequences of the re-entry but rather takes on a governmental approach to the discussion.

The second source of our chosen study “Second Chances at Life” focuses on discussing the ways and means to prevent the offenders from returning to the prisons ...