The Violent Crime Control Act and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, known as the Crime Bill, was a source of mass incarceration in the United States. People were locked up for long periods of time for minor offenses.
It was supported by then-Senator Joe Biden and signed by President Bill Clinton. Politicians believed the bill would lead to less violence and drug use. Instead, the incarceration rate spiked.
Terrence Coffie, an adjunct lecturer at New York University Silver School of School of Social Work, writes and teaches on criminal justice reform. He has studied the problems theCrime Bill has caused, and says his knowledge stems from personal experience. In 1993, he received his GED at Florida’s Marion Correctional Institution while serving a five-year sentence for possession with intent to sell. WHen he was 40 he enrolled in college, was offered a scholarship to NYU, earned a bachelor’s degree and then a masters.
Coffie explains that an act called the First Step Act looked like it was a good step to criminal justice reform and promised of a long list of programs that help inmates earn credits toward halfway house living and home confinement. But the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been unable to fully implement the program.
He stresses that those leaving prison need housing, education and work. With a felony record it’s not easy. Coffie has developed a Comprehensive Reentry Plan that will help both the states and people released from prison.
One of the biggest problems has been the COVID-19 pandemic, but state and federal programs still need to focus on challenges faced by those coming out of prison.
Coffie says he intends on taking advantage of his teaching position and feels he has been given an opportunity to right some wrongs and help people find their way once released from prison.
