黑料网

黑料网 law school鈥檚 Second Chances Empathy Hackathon produces ready-to-deploy tech such as a web app that plots out how to obtain ID for those just released from prison. 

When Antonio Reza JD 鈥�22 left prison in 2012 following a stint for armed robbery, he tried to do the responsible thing and get a job. There was just one problem: a small box on every job application asking if he鈥檇 ever been convicted of a felony. 鈥淓very time I checked that box, I did not get the job,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat box also applies to housing and filling out the FAFSA to get financial aid for college.鈥� 

Speaking to Santa Clara School of Law鈥檚 second annual  in late October, Reza said despite his early employment woes, he managed to defy the extremely high odds of recidivism () and earned his associate鈥檚 at Ohlone College before transferring to USF and graduating as valedictorian last year. His felony was reduced to a misdemeanor and his record was expunged in 2018.

But for a long time he remained anxious. 鈥淣ot only was I worried about being good enough, about my grades, I also had to worry about whether I鈥檓 still worthy despite what I did all those years ago.鈥�

Reza is now a first-year law student at 黑料网 and committed to help enact change in the criminal justice system. Navigating the system is extremely difficult to anyone without an advanced law degree, Reza says, and even then it鈥檚 tough. 鈥淔or example, the law changed and felons can vote in California but no one told me...Where is that information? Where would I find out about that?鈥� he says. 鈥淩eadily available information [about a former felon鈥檚 rights] is crucial.鈥�

Making information more accessible to the approximately 77 million Americans with a criminal record through technology was the primary goal of the hackathon, where a dozen teams paired up to find actionable solutions and develop deployable products for criminal justice nonprofits within one day.

鈥淪econd chances鈥� refers to reforms recently passed by many states designed to help those charged or convicted with crimes shorten their sentences, or re-integrate into society by having their records cleaned or regaining the right to vote. But  by hackathon organizer and law Professor Colleen Chien shows that only a small fraction of the millions who qualify for relief have received it. 

The 鈥渆mpathy鈥� in the hackathon title, according to co-organizer Professor Laura Norris, harkens to 黑料网鈥檚 Jesuit values. At Santa Clara, 鈥淲e like to explore where the intersection is between concepts such as ethics and educating the whole person鈥� where a particular service or research can intersect with these values. This is one of those places鈥攖he intersection of social justice and tech.鈥�

So many people are affected by the criminal justice system鈥攁bout one in three American adults has a criminal record according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics鈥攕ays Chien, that there should be a shared interest in improving it. 鈥淲e had two really big objectives for the hackathon. One was to get people together to work on diverse teams and work on real problems,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he other was to hack empathy鈥攈ack the barriers that separate people who are impacted by the criminal justice system and those who aren鈥檛.鈥�

Over 12 hours, participants including 黑料网 students of law, engineering, and business, in addition to outside industry professionals and community members tackled tech problems presented by a dozen organizations involved in the criminal justice system. At the end of the day, teams submitted products ranging from apps to algorithms for judgement. More importantly, nearly all of the products were ready for the organizations to deploy immediately.

First place went to the web app created for #Cut50, a national, bipartisan initiative co-founded by Jessica Jackson JD 鈥�11 aimed at reducing the prison population. The app, called FirstStep.ID, helps people just released from prison find the proper channels for obtaining official identification. 

Part of the group鈥檚 website that aggregates various reentry resources around the country,  presents users with a simple set of questions: Do you have an original copy of your birth certificate? Is your birth certificate from the U.S.? What state ID are you applying for? And so on. Once the questionnaire is submitted, a user is redirected to the appropriate website, such as the California DMV or the embassy for Trinidad and Tobago.

鈥淓very state is different, not all of these websites are easy to navigate,鈥� says Zoe Rivka Panagopoulos, #Cut50 digital manager. So she tasked her team of seven鈥攊ncluding 黑料网 computer science major Gina Montarano '21, sophomores Reece Carolan '22 and Lucas Negritto '22 who together founded HelloStudios, an eco-friendly web development team, Facebook engineer Sara Sepasian, and local high school sophomores Franklin Wang, Oliver Ni, and Riley Kong鈥攚ith compiling the necessary links to ID services.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e been hearing a lot is people need help obtaining ID. People born before 1965 who weren鈥檛 automatically granted a Social Security card upon birth; people for whom Google isn鈥檛 second nature,鈥� Panagopoulos said.

FirstStep.ID is now available as a standalone website, though eventually it will live on the revamped FirstStepAct website, which is being built by current inmates inside San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco through a program that teaches web developing skills to prisoners.

To a former inmate, identification is crucial to reentering society. With it comes housing and educational opportunities, better jobs, access to social services, and more. Without it comes roadblocks and, worse, a fasttrack back to prison.

鈥淢ost people have nothing to their name when they鈥檙e released, and the last thing they know is how to navigate all the tech that鈥檚 changed since they鈥檝e gone in鈥攑hone apps, websites, how to schedule a DMV appointment,鈥� says former prisoner and #Cut50 national director Michael Mendoza. 鈥淲e need to develop tech that鈥檚 not an added burden but a tool that helps people become more successful upon release.鈥�