Individuals Should Have a Second Chance

INDIVIDUALS SHOULD HAVE A SECOND CHANCE -- (House of Representatives - July 21, 2004)

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, I come to the floor this evening because earlier today I failed to pass an amendment in a Committee on Education and the Workforce markup. My amendment was a very simple amendment, very modest amendment. It was an amendment that would have allowed States to move utilization of their leadership funds for vocational education from 1 percent to 3 percent.

Now, I think my amendment failed not because it lacked merit. I do not think it failed because it was too ambitious, but I think it failed basically because of a lack of understanding and sensitivity to what I think is emerging as one of the biggest problems facing urban America today, and that is, the problem of individuals coming home from prison with no skill, little education, no training and virtually no ability to get a job, which sends them right back to the penitentiaries from which they have come.

We have become, Mr. Speaker, the most incarcerated Nation on the face of the Earth, the United States of America. It is hard to believe, but we have more people in prison per capita than any other country on the face of the Earth. Right now, as I speak, there are more than 2 million people in this country who are incarcerated, in jails and prisons. More than 640,000 of them come home each and every year.

Now, I will not even bother to go into why there are so many people in prison: mandatory minimums, antiquated sentencing laws, get tough on drugs, punishment that does not fit the crime; of course, lack of prevention, lack of education, poverty; all of the things that characterize individuals who are in prison and, of course, in many instances, race and ethnic backgrounds.

The realities are, if we do not do something to stem the tide, then this problem keeps recurring over and over and over again.

Last year, I introduced a bill, the Public Safety Ex-Offender Self-Sufficiency Act of 2003, along with the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder). That bill calls for the building of 100,000 units of SRO-type housing for ex-offenders, people as they come out of prison because all of the studies suggest that one of the biggest problems that people have when they return home from prison is having a stable environment in which to live.

About 3 weeks ago, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) and I and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) introduced the Second Chance Ex-Offender Act which is, in reality, a scaled-down version of our first bill. What we are really trying to do is to assist people to reenter back into normal life. It has nothing to do with getting soft on crime or being soft on crime, but it has everything to do with promoting public safety, with reducing recidivism, with improving the quality of life, not only for those individuals who return but for all of those with whom they come into contact.

So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that as we continue to move progressively in our country that we would take a different look at how we treat punishment and how individuals who have gone afoul of the law should have and must have a second chance.