Our view: Fix ‘out of whack’ prison sentences
At 26, Chris Young was headed to prison for life — convicted on a crack cocaine charge, his third drug-related offense.
The sentence also marked a turning point for the judge in the case. Three years after Kevin Sharp handed down what he called an “out of whack” punishment, he abandoned the bench, distraught over mandatory minimums that gave him no leeway at sentencing.
“Each defendant is supposed to be treated as an individual,” the judge said during Young’s hearing. “I don’t think that’s happening here.”
In 2014, Sharp didn’t have the power to save a nonviolent offender like Young from a lifetime in prison. Today Congress does. A measure known as the FIRST STEP Act, passed by the House in May but stalled in the Senate, has strong bipartisan support that could make it that rare example of Congress coming together to do the right thing.
Last month, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — including Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Cory Booker, D-N.J. — agreed on a compromise that would make sentencing more flexible and prison treatment more humane.
Pregnant inmates would no longer be shackled; prisoners would be housed closer to their families; judges would get more leeway to avoid mandatory minimum sentences; some inmates locked up on crack cocaine charges could petition for lighter sentences; and a third strike would no longer mean life in prison.
The measure would also go a long way toward helping inmates successfully re-enter society, an urgent task in a nation where nearly 50 percent of federal offenders return to the criminal justice system within eight years.
President Donald Trump has endorsed the act, as have the Koch brothers on the right and the ACLU on the left. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a handful of conservative Republicans are blocking progress.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has been the most vocal critic. In a USA TODAY column, he called the legislation “a misguided effort to let serious felons out of prison,” and he has expressed concern that sexual predators could use the bill to their advantage.
Activists on the left, meanwhile, argue that the bill doesn’t go far enough to significantly improve conditions for inmates, and that the risk assessments might not give prisoners a fair shake.
Much of the criticism on both sides is either highly exaggerated or unfounded.
Under the Senate bill, inmates who’ve committed crimes against children, including sex-related crimes, wouldn’t be eligible for early release. Risk assessments, according to the Judiciary Committee, would help ensure that violent criminals stay behind bars.
The Senate proposal represents the most realistic chance in years to improve the nation’s criminal justice system. Republicans and Democrats agree that the system needs an overhaul. Let the Senate vote. People like Chris Young deserve better.