Why We Need This Reform Now:
While probation is intended to support rehabilitation and keep our communities safe, it can often become a web of confusing, ineffective and destabilizing rules that make it difficult to find a way out of the criminal justice system and achieve stability.
The impact of being on probation echoes throughout a person’s life, depressing their earnings and opportunities for decades. Nationally, about two-thirds of people on probation are estimated to make less than $20,000 annually.
This is in part because of the instability that probation can create. Even something as simple as missing a meeting can send a person back to jail. When this happens it punishes the businesses where people may be working, their families and entire communities.
Meanwhile, Iowa faces a workforce crisis, with 32% of businesses reporting vacancies and the number of open jobs far exceeding the number of people unemployed in Iowa.
Education, Workforce, and Discharge Credits for people on probation create an incentive for people to get back to work, pursue an education, and comply with their probation terms.
This will increase public safety for all and reduce recidivism.
Make Iowa Smart On Crime:
Iowa can become smart on crime by building a probation system that supports and encourages people to become successful, law-abiding citizens so they don’t return to the justice system.
Give Iowans A Fair Chance:
Iowans deserve a probation system focused on rehabilitation so that once they have paid their debt to society they can move on with their lives as productive citizens.
