... an outstanding debut ... [Hardy] offers an immersive look at Louisiana’s criminal justice system ... What stands out are the compelling stories throughout, along with Hardy’s sympathy for parolees and genuine insights into the root causes of street crime ... An insightful, impactful book for all social and criminal justice readers, and fans of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Sudhir Venkatesh’s Gang Leader for a Day.

Hardy’s book is a moving look at the people of the criminal justice system ... While much of Hardy’s book is focused on the systemic problems with the criminal justice system, the most insightful parts of The Second Chance Club are the most personal ones. He tells the story best when he tells the individual stories of his clients ... Hardy demonstrates tremendous empathy and insight when reporting on his clients ... Yes, the story of the criminal justice system is told through the stories of the individuals in it. Yet Hardy allows the reader to see some greater truths through these stories ... You can’t change a system until you understand the people who compose it. Hardy helps us do just that.

A struggle to be seen governs these pages—though, sadly, Hardy, for all of his good intentions, is often the one who fails to see ... More than half of The Second Chance Club passes before Hardy realizes that his 'judgments were based on glimpses' and that he 'missed way more than I saw.' The same could be said of this book—a story based on glimpses, that misses far more than it sees ... In Hardy’s book, the word 'offender' appears 488 times. 'Offender' becomes interchangeable with a person’s name, a flag announcing Hardy’s (and our own) unwillingness not to stigmatize people who have a criminal conviction. As a writer, he should understand how the repetition of 'offender' transforms a person into a stereotype; as a P.O., he should know that those under his supervision deserve the dignity such repetition denies. But he fails, miserably, and that failure isn’t just a reflection on him but on all of us, because it is not just Hardy who fails to see beyond the stigma ... where Hardy misses the point is that he presents the ridiculously incongruous as representative ... purports to be a story about men and women on probation or parole, but mostly it exposes a system so bereft that it takes inexperienced and ill-prepared employees, grants them the authority of guns and handcuffs and expects them to serve as mentors, therapists, employment coaches and substance abuse counselors, all without training or resources. Such a system can’t help ruining everyone it touches.

The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope’ is a clear-eyed and compelling look at the American probation and parole system ... Jason Hardy writes in a Dragnet, just-the-facts style, leavened with a dash of Raymond Chandler wit ... 'Solving a crime is a lot easier than solving a person,'’ he says. His memoir is evidence.

Weaving the experiences of his offenders with pertinent facts about the criminal justice system, Hardy removes the ability to blame each individual completely for their actions and informs us of the breadth and depth of systemic problems within law enforcement, addiction treatment, American poverty and racial disparity ... it’s clear that Hardy’s work with his offenders resulted in meaningful relationships—relationships that become meaningful to the reader, as well ... Though I don’t work in law enforcement, the language that Hardy uses seems eerily familiar. Lamenting the constant failures of a system intended to help the neediest folks, assessing individual needs and risks to determine whether or not to cut corners, making decisions that affect people’s lives without really having any proper training or experience—the 'empathy exhaustion' that Hardy feels is the constant companion of so many in public service. In a world where my most underprivileged students have the potential to become Hardy’s next offenders, the need to resolve these systemic incongruities is greater than ever, as The Second Chance Club makes vividly clear.

In addition to telling the often harrowing stories of his clients, Hardy offers insights into police officers, social workers, prosecutors, judges, and, especially, his PO colleagues ... Throughout, the author is refreshingly candid with readers, who will realize that his ultimate goal is to prevent his clients from continued lives of crime, violence, or even death ... A powerful, necessary book with revelatory passages on nearly every page.

... [an] affecting blend of memoir and sociological treatise ... Hardy writes eloquently and treats everyone he encounters, from violent offenders and drug dealers to judges and colleagues, with empathy and accountability. The result is a revelatory account that threads the needle between exasperation and optimism.