Championing Smart Justice Reform
A growing number of chambers are championing criminal justice reform efforts that reduce crime, improve public safety, develop the workforce pipeline and build thriving and inclusive regional economies. Smart justice addresses criminal justice issues holistically by examining the connections between crime and opportunities for education, employment, mental health, addiction support, housing and social inclusion. Chambers are uniquely positioned to build cross-sector coalitions that address key issues such as fair chance hiring, expungement reform, bail reform, diversion and prevention, justice reinvestment, education, and employment.
ACCE Foundation resources can help you kickstart your chamber's efforts.
Clearing Barriers to Opportunity
The Clean Slate Initiative is a national bipartisan coalition working to empower states to automate the process for clearing certain criminal records for individuals who remain crime-free for a set period of time. One in three Americans has some type of criminal record, potentially creating lifelong barriers to opportunity. Chambers across the country are taking on the issue to address workforce shortages and reduce obstacles to employment. Read More
Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and Your Communities
The United States has 19 million people with a felony conviction, including one in three Black men. Along with the additional tens of millions burdened with misdemeanor convictions, “people with records” represent an enormous underutilized labor resource. Fifth Third Bank's Chief Investment Officer Jeffrey Korzenik shared the economic and business case for chambers and businesses to champion second chance hiring initiatives during ACCE's Chamber Innovation Summit. Watch the Presentation
Chamber Examples
Greater Kansas City Chamber: In response to Kansas City’s ranking by the FBI as one of the most violent cities in the U.S. in 2020 (Willeke, 2021), the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce wanted to address the critical issues being faced within their community. They sought a strategy that would restore trust among key stakeholders and reflect the community’s desire for more equitable public safety outcomes.
Kentucky Chamber: The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce established its smart justice initiatives through its foundation to help Kentuckians struggling with substance use disorder, assist businesses in developing recovery-friendly work environments, help Kentuckians struggling with substance use disorder and engage Kentuckians interested in smart criminal justice reforms.
- Untapped Talent Case Study: Strategies for Economic Mobility
- Creating a complete employer resource guide
- Providing employers sample policies and procedures
- Producing a video series to promote promising practices
- Kentucky Comeback Case Study (April 2023)
Oklahoma City Chamber: The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s Criminal Justice Task Force released a series of recommendations designed to ease overcrowding conditions at the Oklahoma County Jail and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system.
- The chamber also released a Fair Chance Hiring Toolkit
Toledo Regional Chamber created the Re-Entry Development Initiative (REDI) to provide assistance in the area of fair chance hiring. The chamber strives to make the region a preferred place for diverse talent and economic opportunity. Assisting employers by helping them to expand their potential talent is one way that we are working to achieve that goal. Recent highlights include:
- Fair Chance Hiring Employee Guidebook
- REDI Lunch & Learn: Why You Should Take a Chance Hiring a Returning Citizen
- REDI Case Study (April 2023)
Partner Resources
The Second Chance Business Coalition provides a variety of resources to help explain the benefits of second chance hiring to employers.
The Society for Human Resource Management created the Getting Talent Back to Work toolkit to provide no-cost, high-quality resources along each step of an employee’s journey to support employers’ efforts to recruit, welcome, and develop individuals with a criminal background.
The Clean Slate Initiative created a communications toolkit to help chambers support common-sense policy change to combat workforce shortages by reducing obstacles people face as they seek employment after incarceration. By automating the record-clearing process, states can reduces strain on the court system, saves taxpayers money, and open doors for millions of hardworking individuals seeking jobs that will allow them to move beyond past mistakes and create better lives for their families.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation created a vision for transforming juvenile probation. Probation plays an outsized role in the juvenile justice system. Evidence shows that in many cases, juvenile probation is not an effective strategy for reversing delinquent behavior and its use perpetuates racial disparities. Learn promising practices from communities across the country that are increasing the use of diversion strategies and limiting probation to youth with the highest risk to re-offend. Learn more in this brief explainer video.
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