We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. 

SENTENCING REFORM IS DEAD… LONG LIVE PRISON REFORM

A couple of hagiographic news articles on Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s efforts pushing federal criminal justice reform last week make it clear, if it was not clear before, that hopes of sentencing reform – rewriting mandatory minimums and giving guys with grossly-stacked sentences a chance to get resentenced to something that make sense – are waning.

Notwithstanding Sen. Charles Grassley’s (R-Iowa) optimism, prospects for the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017, are bleak, with Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III leading Administration opposition to the notion of front-end sentencing reform.

So, if traditional sentencing reform is dead in the water, The Hill asked last week, what’s left? Prison reform legislation that focuses on reentry programs offering prisoners the opportunity to shorten their sentences on the back end is what’s being favored now. Rather than trimming sentences from the start, these programs allow prisoners to earn credits toward early release by participating in programs intended to help reintegrate them into society and reduce their propensity to reoffend. Although they face some of the same political resistance as front-end sentencing reductions, it is significantly easier to overcome.

The Hill argued that prison reform bills “avoid many of the usual pitfalls that sentencing reform legislation encounters because they shift the narrative from one of retribution to redemption, from past wrong to future promise. Instead of getting bogged down on issues like whom to punish and for how long, politicians are able to talk about what comes next. Leaving the nominal sentence unchanged insulates these reforms from charges that they don’t adequately reflect the egregiousness of a given crime or that they will negatively impact deterrence.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal suggested last week that anything criminal justice advocates may get from Congress this year will be due to Kushner, whose father did a bit a decade ago for some white-collar and tax beefs. Sentencing reform failed last year despite Obama’s willingness to sign it, and after law-and-order Trump was elected, it looked like any reform would not happen.

But Kushner convinced Trump to support prison reform (not sentencing reform), changes that would “create a prison system that will rehabilitate citizens who have made mistakes, paid the price and are deserving of a second chance — which will ultimately reduce crime and save taxpayer dollars.”

In practical terms, Kushner has helped in two ways. First, his commitment tells Hill Republicans that Trump is not likely to reverse his support for prison reform. Second, Kushner found a way to co-opt Sessions, by convincing advocates to delay their push for sentencing reform in exchange for Sessions not standing in the way of their rehabilitation goals. As a result, DOJ now “is working closely with the White House to develop legislative reforms that further the president’s goals for prison and re-entry improvements,” said spokesman Drew Hudson.

The lead horse in the prison reform race is the Prison Reform and Redemption Act, sponsored by Rep. Doug Collins, R-Georgia, that would require prisons to assess inmates’ recidivism risk, encourage drug treatment and offer incentives for inmates to participate in recidivism reduction programs.

Collins said his bill would create “a federal prison-wide system for evaluating the risk of every individual prisoner for re-offending and then offering evidence-based resources — like mental health care, vocational skills, substance abuse treatment and faith-based programs — that make them less likely to re-offend when they are released.”

Las Vegas Review-Journal, For Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, prison reform is personal (April 7, 2018)

ABC, Inside Jared Kushner’s personal crusade to reform America’s prisons (April 8, 2018)

The Hill, Incentivized early release the right path to sentencing reform under Trump-Sessions (April 6, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root