{"id":86271,"date":"2018-11-19T12:18:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T17:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?p=86271"},"modified":"2019-11-05T16:39:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T21:39:12","slug":"first-step-act-prison-reform-bill-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/legislation\/first-step-act-prison-reform-bill-update","title":{"rendered":"First Step Act Prison Reform Bill Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
A Tentative Deal in the Senate May Finally Pave the Way for the Most Substantial Rewrite of the Nation\u2019s Criminal Justice Laws in a Generation.<\/p>\n
Having just worked our way through a blistering midterm election season, there is little question that our country is divided. Indeed, come January 2019, Congress will officially be divided with a Senate still controlled by the Republicans and the House controlled by the Democrats.<\/p>\n
With all of the polarization inside, and outside, of Washington D.C., it is hard to think of any issue that would bring the two parties together. That is essentially true, save for one issue \u2013 criminal justice reform. The one thing Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on is that our criminal justice system is broken, terribly broken. A few statistics demonstrate the point.<\/p>\n
The United States incarcerates more people in its prisons per capita than anywhere else on Earth. Moreover, the rate of incarceration in the U.S. is approximately five times that of Canada, seven times that of Germany, and ten times that of Japan. Even though we incarcerate so many more people, the U.S. is not five times safer than Canada or ten times safer than Japan.<\/p>\n
In that context, prison and sentencing reform bills have been bouncing around Congress for the last several years. Finally, with a recent bipartisan agreement among some Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, it looks like the First Step Act\u00a0prison reform bill<\/a> could actually make it to the finish line.<\/p>\n To understand the current bill that is poised for passage, here is a little background on how we got to this point.<\/p>\nThe FIRST STEP Act \u2013 House Version, May 2018<\/h2>\n