Big news on criminal justice reform

The U.S. criminal justice system has been astray for some time now.  Trials are way down (less than 3% of federal cases go to trial, which is absurd).  And incarceration rates are way up.  We lead the world in prison rates in all the bad ways.

There's lots of blame to go around.  From prosecutors, to guidelines, to the trial tax, to judges, to a culture of awfully high sentences.  But the Senate -- on a bipartisan basis -- stepped in today (with a nudge from Trump) and passed what the New York Times is calling the most substantial changes in a generation to federal prison and sentencing laws.  "The First Step Act" is expected to be signed into law shortly.  Some call it "Baby Steps" and it certainly doesn't fix the serious problems in the system.  We still need to stop penalizing defendants after trial and to stop issuing guideline sentences that are not tied to any empirical evidence (like the loss guideline and the drug guideline).  We need prosecutors and probation officers to stop asking for insanely high sentences for everyone except cooperators. And to use some discretion on who and what should be charged. 

Obviously not all prosecutors do this, and there are a lot of well-meaning folks in the system, but there is still a culture of incarceration insanity here and around the country. It needs to change.

The Senate and President Trump should be commended on taking this first, albeit small, step.  Here are some of the changes:

Many of the changes adopted by the Senate and embraced by Mr. Trump are modeled after successful initiatives at the state level intended to reduce the costs and improve the outcomes of the criminal justice system. Congress’s action would not directly affect state prisons, where the majority of the country’s offenders are incarcerated, but proponents believe they could spur more states to change their laws.

Once signed into law, thousands of inmates will be eligible for immediate sentencing reductions and expanded early-release programs. Going forward, the effect will grow as thousands of new offenders receive reduced sentences and enter a changed prison system.

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Broadly speaking, the First Step Act makes heavy investments in a package of incentives and new programs intended to improve prison conditions and better prepare low-risk prisoners for re-entry into their communities.
By participating in the programs, eligible prisoners can earn time credits to reduce their sentence or enter “prerelease custody,” such as home confinement. In recent weeks, conservative senators and law enforcement groups successfully pushed to limit some violent offenders from eligibility, including fentanyl traffickers.

The legislation would also prohibit the shackling of pregnant inmates and the use of solitary confinement for juveniles in almost all cases. The Bureau of Prisons would be required to place prisoners in facilities close to their homes, if possible.

In all, it includes four changes to federal sentencing laws. One would shorten mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent drug offenses, including lowering the mandatory “three strikes” penalty from life in prison to 25 years. Another would provide judges greater liberty to use so-called safety valves to go around mandatory minimums in some cases. The bill would also clarify that the so-called stacking mechanism making it a federal crime to possess a firearm while committing another crime, like a drug offense, should apply only to individuals who have previously been convicted.

Finally, the bill would allow offenders sentenced before a 2010 reduction in the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine to petition for their cases to be re-evaluated. The provision could alter the sentences of several thousand drug offenders serving lengthy sentences for crack-cocaine offenses. That would help many African-American offenders who were disproportionately punished for crack dealing while white drug dealers got off easier for selling powder cocaine.

And here's your President:

America is the greatest Country in the world and my job is to fight for ALL citizens, even those who have made mistakes. Congratulations to the Senate on the bi-partisan passing of a historic Criminal Justice Reform Bill....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018