Where they are involved, parole officers and halfway houses are overwhelmed by their caseloads. Many ex-offenders receive nothing more than a bus ticket and a little cash when they get out of jail, with no good plan for housing or income, and often not even a driver's license. But awareness of the limitations of punishment is growing, at least in some quarters. The nationwide decrease in crime, particularly in low-income and minority communities, allowed activists who previously focused on reducing crime to think critically about the workings of criminal justice. CDCs, which fought to get offenders off the street, are now faced with ex-offenders coming back.
Crime is down.
There is some level of steady employment. So there is some stability in those neighborhoods. This influx is going to begin to shift things. The neighborhood served by the Fifth Avenue Committee, Developing Justice's parent organization, is a typical example of these shifts. Over one-quarter of New York City arrestees live in Brooklyn, and Red Hook, one of the areas served by the CDC, was long notorious as a neighborhood that scared even its own residents.