Justice For All - Feb 2015

Republicans may have lost the House of Representatives, but there is still an opportunity for substantial legislative victories in the lame duck session. Republicans lost the House because they failed to govern by their small government, constitutional principles. All eyes now turn to Senate Republicans to make good on their promises.

The Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has a prime chance to change its reputation and pass a landmark piece of conservative legislation. It arises on the issue of criminal justice reform that has strong bipartisanship across all ideological spectrums. Although most of the bipartisanship we see in the Senate coalesces around bad policy, such as wasteful spending, mass surveillance, and more, the bipartisanship in this instance is directed at very good policy.

Modest sentencing reforms may be added to prison reform legislation, the First Step Act, currently pending in the Senate. The White House has been vocally supportive of prison reform, and President Trump has appeared to warm to the possibility of adding sentencing reform to the bill.

In May, the House of Representatives passed the First Step Act, H.R. 5682, by a vote of 360 to 59. The bill would implement risk assessments and recidivism reduction programming in federal prisons, as well as incentivize certain nonviolent prisoners to reduce their risk of reoffending through earned time credits that can be “cashed in” for placement in pre-release custody.