PRISON TO WORK
CORY BOOKER'S NEWARK BARGAIN
By HOWARD HUSOCK
May 20, 2008
THE welfare reform of the '90s was the most important so cial-policy change in the United States in recent decades. But it was, in a key way, narrow: It focused on women - that is, on getting welfare mothers into the workforce. But now a successor to "welfare-to-work" is emerging - a reform mainly for men. Call it prison-to-work.
The frontline can be found in cities like Newark. Reforming Mayor Cory Booker understands that he won't win his battle against crime unless he can find ways to help the thousands of ex-cons on the city's streets - and the many more to come - get jobs and keep them.
Nationwide, the challenge is huge: Some 700,000 ex-offenders a year return to their communities. If the trend isn't changed, some two-thirds will wind up back behind bars - meaning lots of new crimes committed.
Those grim numbers reflect the failure of past efforts to steer the newly released away from their old habits. Deborah Daniels, a former US assistant attorney general, explains: "Historically, people were to meet with their parole officer, sign up for job training and eventually look for a job." And that was it.
The results are deadly. In Newark, some 77 percent of violent crimes are committed by those with prior criminal records. Each year, 1,400 fresh parolees return to the city and surrounding county - a new potential crime wave in a city whose revival is being held back by murder and mayhem.
Booker (who'll speak on the topic to the Manhattan Institute on Thursday) wants a new approach for ex-cons. He's said: "We have to create strong pathways whereby many people who are coming out of incarceration can move to meaningful employment."
The mayor, 38, is a thoughtful post-ideological liberal (he's endorsed school vouchers, for instance). He often walks Newark's streets at night and talks with those he meets on corners - and says the first request he always gets is for a job.
So Newark isn't emphasizing job training and the like. Instead, the push is for "rapid attachment to work": getting each ex-offender into a job - any job - before he gets into trouble.
