Today, President Donald J. Trump expressed support for the FIRST STEP Act, a historic piece of legislation that proposes both recidivism reduction programs and sentencing reforms for minimal and low-risk offenders.
The following statement can be attributed to Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform:
I applaud President Trump’s support of the criminal justice reform bill. The costs, human and monetary, are too high to not pass the bill. Hugely long sentences for non-violent offenders ruin lives and families and drain taxpayer dollars. Senators should wholeheartedly support the FIRST STEP Act so it becomes law before the end of 2018.
This is the “first step” in bringing reform to a broken, expensive system. The reform will increase public safety by using proven methods to reduce recidivism, effectively driving down the prevalence and cost of crime for generations to come.
Both the Senate and House versions of the bill would help reduce recidivism by providing time-release credits to inmates who participate in rehabilitative programs. It is expected that the Senate will include modest sentencing reforms to the bill that would retroactively apply the 18-1 crack to powdered cocaine disparity to prisoners serving time before the Fair Sentencing Act became law, would address stacked charges and expand the federal safety valve so non-violent offenders receive sentences that are better suited for the crime.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 360-59, and is sponsored by Congressman Doug Collins (R- Ga-9) in the House (H.R.5682) with 19 bipartisan cosponsors.