Providing For Individuals a Second Chance

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR INDIVIDUALS A SECOND CHANCE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as I was leaving a friend of mine's home on Sunday morning, a young fellow was across the street on the other side and he flagged me down and said, "Can I talk to you for a moment?'' And so I waited for him to come across the street, and he did. And I asked what I could do for him, and he says, ``Well, I am trying to find a job.'' And I inquired as to his educational background, what kind of things that he could do, and what kind of jobs that he had. And he says, "Well, I had a job, but then my employer discovered that I also had a felony conviction and he didn't know that when I got hired.'' And, " Of course,'' he says, "I have lost my job, lost my house, lost my car, lost my wife, and I am in the process of losing my children.'' And as I listened to him on Sunday morning, it reinforced for me how important it is that we try and provide for individuals like this young man a second chance.

As a matter of fact, our country is the most imprisoned nation on the face of the Earth. More than 2 million people languish in our jails and prisons across the country.

More than 650,000 of them come home every year, and, like this young man, oftentimes find every avenue blocked that prevents them from leading normal lives. Of course, many of them do what we call recidivate, that is, if they don't get any help within 3 years, 67 percent of them will have done what we call re-offend; that is, committed another offense against society. More than 50 percent of them will be re-incarcerated, costing our taxpayers enormous sums of money.

And so I felt compelled to come to the floor and urge my colleagues to support the Second Chance Act, to urge the leadership to bring that legislation to the floor, so that this young man and thousands of others like him can, indeed, experience a second chance.

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