State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

To Reduce Recidivism, States Scrap Barriers for Ex-Offenders

Stateline: To ease prison crowding and rein in corrections spending, state legislatures are trying to help ex-offenders re-enter society with the goal of ensuring they don’t return to prison.

People exiting prison often struggle to find work and housing, and many legislators say the law continues to punish them as they are hit with court debt and barred from entering certain professions and, in some places, from getting public assistance.

“With the exception of people that get sentenced to life, everybody that goes to prison is going to get out eventually,” said Utah state Sen. Daniel Thatcher, a Republican who sponsored a new law that makes it easier for ex-offenders to clear their criminal records. “When they go to reintegrate we see how incredibly difficult it is for people to meet these standards that we are setting.”

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