First Step

nal justice reform efforts in Congress:

Why should you care

First, a quick look at the numbers:

❚ Half of all adults in the U.S. have an immediate family member who has been incarcerated, according to a new study by FWD.us, a group focusing on immigration and criminal justice reforms.

❚ About 1 in 38 adults were under supervision in some part of the system by the end of 2016, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the Department of Justice.

❚ The tab for the nation’s criminal justice system is $270 billion a year, the

Brennan Center for Justice reports. ❚ And the 2.2 million people in prison cost taxpayers about $31,000 each a year.

Then there’s a human cost as more people – women and men – are sent to prison, some of them for a long time for minor nonviolent offenses. AfricanAmericans are disproportionately locked up.

“There’s no question that the policies that we’ve had for more than 40-plus years have devastated communities of color,” said Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

“They have resulted in the permanent locking out of communities of color from the mainstream economy and they have resulted in long-term warehousing of men and women, and in some cases children. It is high time that Congress act.”

Supporters of reform efforts said there should be more programs to reduce repeat criminals. Many times people returning from prison have a hard time finding jobs, housing and other support. That sometimes leads them to turn again to crime and the cycle repeats.

“Mass incarceration is probably one of the largest civil rights atrocities that currently exist,” said Inimai M. Chettiar, director of the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

What’s in the bill

The 103-page “First Step Act” includes provisions that aim to improve rehabilitation programs for former prisoners and give judges more discretion in sentencing offenders for nonviolent crime, particularly drug offenders.

The legislation would place federal prisoners closer to home – no more than 500 miles – so families could visit more often. The bill also would allow more home confinement for lower-level offenders – which supporters argue is much cheaper than housing them in prison – and expand prison employment programs so inmates could earn wages.

Those earnings could help inmates when they return home and need money for rent and other crucial items to restart their lives, supporters said.

The bill would allow for the supervised early release of some minimum or low-risk prisoners who have earned credits by participating in programs to reduce recidivism (repeat offenses).

The measure also would allow inmates to request reviews of their cases retroactively under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. That disparity has particularly hurt African-American men, who were more likely to possess crack than the more expensive cocaine, supporters have argued.

What’s the holdup?

As of Dec. 3, 28 senators – evenly split between Republicans and Democrats – had signed onto the bill.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said there’s “solid” support, particularly among Democrats, but with limited days left in the 115th Congress, “we’ve got to seize this opportunity.”

McConnell has said there are other pressing issues to address, including passing a farm bill, approving spending bills and voting on judicial nominations. So far, only judicial nominations are on the schedule.

But there is also major opposition from some conservatives, including Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who has called it a “criminal leniency” bill that would let too many “serious felons” out of prison.

Larry Leiser, president of the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, called the bill “terribly flawed’’ and said there should be more research and hearings.

“We need to sit down and study these issues not ramrod them through,” he said.