Criminal bill gathering support

‘First Step’ would offer sentencing flexibility

WASHINGTON – With just weeks left in the legislative session, President Donald Trump and key senators are pressing Republican leadership to “seize this opportunity” to act on a longawaited bipartisan bill that aims to reduce the number of people in the nation’s crowded prisons.

An unusual coalition of Republicans and Democrats, civil rights groups, and the White House have rallied around a Senate bill called the “First Step Act.”

“This is an opportunity we shouldn’t let anybody deter us from,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, Judiciary Committee chairman, said Tuesday. “We have (a) oncein-a-generation opportunity to accomplish something on criminal justice reform. We should move on it.”

But Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has yet to schedule a vote on the bill. Congressional leaders postponed most legislative action last week for the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush.

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.

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.