The line stretched for a couple of blocks, young adults and old school folks, men, women, many with faces worn by years of struggling to rebuild lives after making devastating mistakes.
These were the hundreds who waited to get into the Julia Carson Government Center for the Aug. 7 forum on Indiana’s new Second Chance Law. The new measure that provides pathways for expungement of criminal histories for those convicted of most crimes in Indiana.
Along with expunging of arrest records where charges were dropped or found not guilty or their sentence was overturned on appeal.
The new law passed by huge bipartisan legislative majorities because lawmakers realized Hoosiers in cities, small towns and rural areas were being victimized by callous employers using years of old criminal issues found in background checks to weed out otherwise capable workers.
The need for the law and employers’ callousness was exemplified by a woman who told the forum that her offense occurred decades ago. She received a pardon for her crimes from the late Gov. Frank O’Bannon, but employers still deny her employment.
When governors issue pardons, it’s after exhaustive research, consultation with prosecutors and victims and interviews with the prospective pardonee by the governor’ staff. It’s a step no governor takes lightly.
For employers to disregard a gubernatorial pardon and deny employment points out what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission now has found – that employers are routinely using background checks and in job applicants past criminal histories to deny individuals jobs in racially discriminatory ways.
That’s why Indiana’s new progressive expungement law exists and why our community must fight against bigoted and callous employers.
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What’s going on at Marion County’s Juvenile Detention Center?
Seems there’s been a change of leadership with no public announcement or notification. Earlier this year, former Superintendent DeShane Reed left, replaced by Charles (Chuck) Parkins.
Checking his background on LinkedIn, I learned that Parkins came here from the Palm Beach Regional Juvenile Detention Center where he served as superintendent just nine months.
Before that he spent nearly 11 years as assistant superintendent and superintendent of the Alachua (Florida) Regional Juvenile Detention Center, which serves 12 mostly rural counties in north Florida with a population of 599,783, two-third’s Marion County’s size that’s 71.1 percent white, 18.8 percent Black, 7.0 percent Hispanic.
Parkins educational background seems unsuited for working with juveniles. While he has associate and bachelors degrees in sociology, Parkins is currently finishing a master’s in psychology, specializing in terrorism and security. That’s an odd specialty working with juvenile offenders awaiting trial.
Since Parkins arrival, I’ve heard there’s been a jump in staff turnover amid concerns over some unusual methods of dealing with juvenile offenders.
Why did Indianapolis hire a new leader for our Juvenile Detention Center with experience in a mostly rural Southern community? One with an unusual education background and a distinct lack of experience working in major urban areas with a substantial African-American population.
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He won’t start officially until Sept. 24, but new IPS Superintendent Dr. Lewis Ferebee was impressive in his first public statements after being hired last Friday.
Ferebee said he wants to engage and listen to teachers, staff, students, parents and the broader IPS community.
When asked about the Tony Bennett A-F grading catastrophe, Ferebee declined to take the bait from local media. Instead he stressed, not the importance of a letter grade, but of making sure that the experiences in his schools are meaningful.
Ferebee surprised by saying he wanted to gather research and information from parents and students on how IPS schools are meeting their needs. Asking the consumers of education their views and feedback is something IPS and other school systems have lacked.
If Ferebee is serious about engaging parents, and he told us that he wants to seek out parents “where they are,” then he could go along way to rebuilding trust in Central Indiana’s largest school district.
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Though the city hasn’t “officially” admitted it, Mayor Ballard has approved Indianapolis working with Cities United, the effort by the National League of Cities to help curb Black-on-Black violence. In an exclusive interview on our WTLC-AM (1310’s) “Afternoons with Amos,” I talked with the NLC’s Leon Andrews about the effort.
Andrews says Cities United works when a city brings the full weight of groups and assets in the community to not only reduce crime through law enforcement, but also provide positive outlets, including jobs and recreation for African-American men. Andrews told me the key is the voices of mayors standing up to find solutions to reduce their city’s violence.
It remains to be seen how serious the Ballard administration is in working with Cities United. The fact that the Ballard administration wouldn’t publicly acknowledge its involvement in the program isn’t a positive start.
Speaking of Ballard miscues, the city continues stonewalling answering simple questions on how many high school students worked this summer as Indy Parks lifeguards. In the face of my stiff objections to their misinterpretations of state law regarding access to public records and information, Ballard’s communication director promised last week that I’d be allowed to “inspect” lifeguard personnel records to see how many were high school students.
We’ll see.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
