Renewing Communities published a paper summarizing their work to increase access and success for justice-involved students in California’s public colleges and universities. The paper highlights key facts about mass incarceration in California, the impacts of education on recidivism, and the multi-strategy approach Renewing Communities is using to accomplish their goals.
This new publication applauds the unprecedented growth in the number of California?colleges teaching in correctional facilities and reaching formerly incarcerated students in the community, but warns of failure if the state does not focus on quality and sustainability.
73 of the 114 California Community Colleges completed a survey on campus programming for formerly incarcerated students. Here are the results of that survey.
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) published a report, by Duy Pham and Wayne Taliaferro, that illustrates key takeaways from their October 2016 forum, Reconnecting Justice: Pathways to Effective Reentry through Education and Training. The report focuses on the intersections of criminal justice, incarceration, and education, the positive impact of investments in correctional education, job training and supportive reentry services for communities with high incarceration rates, and includes federal and state policy recommendations. This report includes examples from California’s legislation and model practices in correctional education.
The Associated Student Government of San Bernardino Valley College passed a Formerly Incarcerated Resource Resolution that will embrace programs to help formerly incarcerated individuals transition from prisons to campuses.
Justice impacted students in California community colleges are succeeding academically across multiple dimensions. In particular, justice impacted students are achieving greater success and similar if not higher grades compared to their main campus counterparts. For a rundown on this data and more, read our new report by Rebecca Silbert and Debbie Mukamal.
Read the press release about the Education Department’s Second Chance Pell Pilot Program, which aims to enroll 12,000 incarcerated students in postsecondary educational and training programs.
Unlocking the Bar: Expanding Access to the Legal Profession for People with Criminal Records in California by Caroline Cohn, Debbie A. Mukamal, and Robert Weisberg identifies and examines the barriers to joining the California State Bar for individuals with criminal records and provides recommendations for expanding access for qualified applicants. This study is a joint project of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School.
Harvard Law Review published a lengthy article by President Obama on the President’s responsibility to enhance criminal justice reform. The piece highlights the steps the Obama administration took to achieve systems changes within the criminal justice landscape, noting the important role higher education plays in reducing recidivism.
The Former US Secretary of Education, John B. King Jr., pens a letter to the country asking colleagues to focus on education for justice-involved students. John B. King Jr. details the steps the Department of Education is taking to support justice-involved students and uses statistics to urge fellow educators to get involved. The letter can be found here.