What's Next for Criminal Justice Reform in Congress?
Join us and tell your reps how you feel!
Last week the House passed a bill known as the FIRST STEP Act that would reform the federal prison system to reduce recidivism (ie reoffending) by inmates as they reenter society in a decisive, bipartisan vote of 360-59 ― but despite the broad support it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hasn’t indicated if or when he’ll bring the bill, which also has the backing of the White House, to the floor for a vote. In the absence of a clear way forward, a group of senators who passed a broader bipartisan sentencing & corrections reform bill out of the Judiciary Committee want their proposal to get consideration.
The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) passed the committee on a bipartisan 16-5 vote. A prior version nearly passed the last Congress before it was halted in part by then-Alabama Senator and current Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Grassley wrote about the prospect of the Senate taking up a prison reform bill that doesn’t address sentencing in an op-ed for Fox News:
“There will never be enough funding for back-end prison reform programs as long as there is a steady stream of new inmates with lengthy sentences disproportionate to their crimes. Instead of keeping lower-level, nonviolent inmates in prison longer for no good reason, we must work to ensure that our limited resources are used to go after our worst criminals and to prevent inmates from committing new crimes when they leave prisons.”
Here’s a look at what some of the two bills’ key provisions would do:
- The Bureau of Prisons would be required to conduct risk- and needs-assessments for every offender and offer individualized recidivism reduction programs which could include vocational training, education, substance abuse counseling, mental healthcare, anger management, and faith-based initiatives.
- Inmates could earn credits toward an alternative custody arrangement, like a halfway house or home confinement, at the end of their sentences. Murderers, high risk sexual offenders and other violent criminals would be ineligible.
- The federal prison industries program would be expanded to provide more employment opportunities for inmates.
S. 1917: Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act
- The bill would retroactively apply the Fair Sentencing Act to federal prisoners who were already serving time when that law was signed into 2010, effectively reducing sentences for crack cocaine convictions.
- It would reduce several other drug- and firearm-related mandatory minimum sentences, including the current mandatory sentence of life without parole for offenders with three federal drug felonies to a mandatory minimum of 25 years. Judges’ ability to use a “safety valve” to show leniency to some repeat drug offenders would be expanded.
- New mandatory minimums for some very specific non-drug offenses involving interstate domestic violence and aiding terrorism.
- The use of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders would be limited, while it’d be easier for people to seal records of crimes they committed as minors.
The bills could be considered by the Senate individually, merged into a single bill through the amendment process, or never reach the floor.
Hit Take Action to tell your senators what you think of the FIRST STEP Act & the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, then share your thoughts below!
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Tim Gray / iStock)
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