The Importance of Second Chances

On Monday Feb. 22, 2010, at 10 a.m. in the State Capitol Rotunda, hundreds of ex-offenders, their families, and supporters of justice reform will come together to highlight the importance of second chances. http://www.mnsecondchancecoalition.org/

I will be attending this gathering. I believe in second chances. I always appreciate when I am given one. I appreciate it when I am able to make a mistake, accept responsibility for it, make amends and then move forward without that mistake defining me. Making mistakes is the least significant thing about me. What is more important is how I handle mistakes and work through them so I don’t make the same ones again.

Last year at this same event, I learned that one in five Americans has some form of criminal record, and close to 6,000 Minnesotans come home from prison every year. I heard men and women give their testimony of the bad mistakes they had made, many of them as juveniles, who as a result served time in prison, away from their families and communities. Most of them, when released from prison, were unable to find employment, had limited or no financial support, no health care coverage, no means of transportation, and were often alienated from family and friends. I heard how many of them were able to overcome these barriers when given a second chance by someone who cared, and moved on to create productive lives for themselves and their families.

Incarceration is not an isolated or an individual issue. Incarceration is a family issue. It affects every member of the family, especially the children. It is crucial that we work to limit the adverse impact of incarceration and the criminal justice system on the lives of children. We must work to provide support for children in the absence of their parent and make sure the parent is able to reconnect in a meaningful way upon reentry whenever possible.

Incarceration is a community issue. When we help an ex-offender find employment and reestablish themselves as a member of the community and reconnect with their family, we strengthen the community as a whole.

Allowing a criminal sentence to end enables a new beginning.

Join me at the Minnesota Capitol this Monday, February 22 and make a stand for Second Chances.

 “America is the land of the second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.” -George W. Bush