Key Findings: Create an Enhanced Employability and Employment Protection Policy
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Once an individual above the age of 18 is convicted of a felony in Texas, that person is a “felon” for the rest of his or her life. The felony offense is included on the person’s criminal record forever, and most felony conviction records are available to the public on the Internet.
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Based on the most recent Census data, approximately 1 in 11 Texas adults has a felony conviction on his or her record.[i]
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Inmates who do not complete high school or a GED are more likely to recidivate.[ii]
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In a 2008 survey of state re-entry practitioners, the largest percentage of survey respondents feel there are “sometimes” or “often” educational, life skills education, and employment issues that pose barriers/obstacles to re-integration, especially with regards to (a) low literacy levels, (b) a lack of pre-release GED certification, (c) a lack of pre-release cognitive skills education, (d) a lack of pre-release anger management education, (e) a lack of pre-release parenting education, (f) a lack of post-release vocational skills training, (g) a lack of academic/literacy skills, and (h) a lack of pre-release vocational skills training.
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Neighborhoods with high rates of returning prisoners also tend to have high schools with high dropout rates, showing a correlation between educational attainment and likelihood of criminal activity and recidivism.[iii]
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Half of Texas’ largest cities rated to be the “safest” cities had lower unemployment rates than the national average (which is 5.1%); and 8 out of the 10 cities were within 1% of the national rate.[iv]
[i] Texas LULAC, State Executive Office, Criminal Justice Policy Brief,(August 2004).
[ii]MTC Institute, Data Spotlight, Recidivism, (February 2003), 2,
http://www.mtctrains.com/institute/publications/DS-Recidivism.pdf.
[iii] Presentation by Tony Fabelo, Ph.D., Justice Reinvestment: A Framework to Improve Effectiveness of Justice Policies in Texas, Austin, TX, 37, 2007.
[iv] The Justice Policy Institute, Effective Investments in Public Safety Unemployment, Wages, and the Crime Rate, http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/07-02_FAC_EmploymentWages_AC-PS.pdf. Texas cities include Fort Worth at 5.3, Austin at 4.4, El Paso at 6.6, and San Antonio at 4.8. 8. “Most dangerous” large cities had unemployment rates higher than the national average, including Dallas at 5.8 and Houston at 6.0.