Reentry

Authors: Claire Kaplan with Elyse Clawson, Leonard Engel, Cheryl Roberts, Jennifer Vorse, Richard Ward
2005

This white paper summarizes the history of the CORI system and the key moments leading to the current situation. It also examines the problems experienced by various people and identifies and explores a handful of ideas for reforming the system. The process that led to the creation of the white paper involved meetings and interviews with dozens of stakeholders, including ex-offenders and advocates, agency and system officials, elected officials and employers. The white paper was delivered at a forum on May 18, 2005 sponsored by The Boston Foundation that brought together many of the stakeholders involved and more than 200 others with some interest in the CORI system.

Sponsored by Massachusetts the Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPS), the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) completed a series of roundtable discussions that examined significant issues in offender reentry. Entitled the Crime & Justice Institute Reentry Roundtables, this project focused on three, distinct aspects of offender reentry, two of which culminated in large public events featuring moderated panels discussing the impact of offender reentry on high crime communities and the unique issues of female offenders in reentry. The third part of the project included original research on the hiring decisions of employers and a final report on the findings and recommendations of the Advisory Group.

Authors: Claire Kaplan and Len Engel
A Workforce and Public Safety Imperative
2007

The Crime and Justice Institute and the Boston Foundation convened a Task Force in June 2006, consisting of 14 leaders from the nonprofit, law enforcement, academic and business communities to kindle discussion and debate the barriers to employment for individuals with criminal records. Co-chaired by Betsy Pattullo, President and CEO of Beacon Health Strategies and Bob Gittens, Vice President of Public Affairs at Northeastern University, the task force went well beyond its original objective to identify opportunities that increase access to employment in the health and human service field for low-risk, qualified applicants with CORI, while continuing to protect vulnerable populations. This report makes a series of recommendations designed to improve criminal justice outcomes for the benefit of ex-offenders, communities, employers and to expand the skilled workforce in the Commonwealth.