Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “I want to say to you, Judge, if I offended you, I apologize. But you know as well as I do that it is so important for us…”

“I want to say to you, Judge, if I offended you, I apologize. But you know as well as I do that it is so important for us to have programs for ex-offenders. In the time that I was a judge and prosecutor, it was those young people that we helped, that we gave a second chance to, that we said to them, all right, you made a mistake, let's make a difference in your life. I can't tell you how many times I have walked down the street, Judge Gohmert, and young people have walked up to me and said, ``Judge, you gave me a break and I thank you.'' ``Judge, you gave me an opportunity.'' And more than those young people need an opportunity. They need a second chance. This is the program. We can't study anymore. We have studied. There are all kinds of studies that have shown that community reentry works. There is all kind of programs that say diversion works. And there is a lot of young people out here who don't have a mother or father that is a judge or a prosecutor or a Congresswoman or a State Representative to call and say I am a good person. They need us to say in the world that young people, older people, whatever their age, who have been involved in the criminal justice system, paid their dues. They need a chance, and we ought to give them the second chance.”