Legislation

Although Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has tried to kill the bill in the past, the drumbeat for a sentencing reform act is getting stronger and stronger. Indeed, even many of McConnell’s Republican colleagues see that sentencing reform is the fair and decent thing to do. That is because the sentencing picture in the United States…

In May 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the First Step Act on a bipartisan vote of 360-59. Since then, the First Step Act has been assailed by some on the political right as being “soft on crime,” and on the political left for not going far enough to address unfair sentencing practices. I…

On May 9, 2018, the House Judiciary Committee passed a bipartisan federal prison reform bill known as the First Step Act (H.R. 5682). The bill’s longer name is the “Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act.” The First Step Act was previously called the Prison Reform and Redemption Act. Before the First…

A bipartisan group of representatives have introduced HR 3356, the Prison Reform and Redemption Act. The bill has seven cosponsors, one of whom is Mr. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)—the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. With Rep. Goodlatte supporting the bill, it has a greater chance of making it out of the Judiciary Committee. But the…

1. National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2017 (H.R. 1607 and S.573) A criminal justice reform bill that would create a national criminal justice commission has been introduced in the House and Senate. The text of the proposed bill states, “developments over the intervening 50 years require once again that Federal, State, tribal, and local…

Several sex offenders challenged on Ex Post Facto grounds a Miami ordinance that bans any “person who has been convicted of any one of several enumerated sexual offenses involving a victim under sixteen years of age from ‘residing within 2,500 feet of any school.’” The Eleventh Circuit held that the sex offenders had adequately alleged…