Both Sides Of The Bars - 05-04-20 (04-02-31)

Exciting, informative, 28-minute ready-to-run TV series produced by The Fortune Society – and hosted by Khalil A. Cumberbatch, Associate VP of Fortune’s Policy Center -- that examines America’s Criminal Justice System and sparks a discussion about its impact and effects on communities. Parole reform has become an important issue within the criminal legal reform world. New York re-incarcerates more people on parole for technical violations -- like missing an appointment with a parole officer, being late for curfew, or testing positive for alcohol -- than any state in the country except Illinois. Of the people on parole whom New York sent back to prison in 2016, over 6,300 -- or 65% -- were reincarcerated for technical parole violations. That’s five times the national average. Meanwhile, the racial disparity is stark: Black people are incarcerated in New York City jails for technical parole violations at more than 12 times the rate of whites. The Less is More: Community Supervision Revocation Reform Act would fix this problem. This episode's guest is Vincent Schiraldi, co-director of Columbia University's Justice Lab and a senior research scientist at the Columbia School of Social Work. Previously he was founder and director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice and then founder and director of the Justice Policy Institute until he became director of the District of Columbia's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. In 2010, he became Commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation, then a senior advisor to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in his Office of Criminal Justice.