We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
FIRST STEP, SECOND STEP – CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM STILL DEBATED
Psychology professor Keith Humphreys wrote in the Washington Post last week that even after the First Step Act, the Feds still imprison seven times as many inmates as in 1980.
Critics complained that First Step would leave the nation “overwhelmed with violent crime.” But Humphreys asked why the federal government should imprison anyone at all. “In reality,” he wrote, “virtually every murder, rape, assault and battery is charged under state law and results in imprisonment at the state or local level. The federal prison system holds only 1.8% of U.S. inmates serving time for violent crimes… It is implausible that the number of and deserved sentence length for such offenses are seven times greater than they were before the federal prison population exploded.”
Noting that the federal criminal code has exploded with white-collar crimes, carjacking, DVD piracy, and street-corner drug dealing ¬– all offenses that states punish as well – Humphreys suggests that “the extremely broad coalition that supported the First Step Act can reasonably aim higher in its next round of proposed reform, returning the federal prison system to its traditional role as an important – but small – part of the U.S. correctional system.”
Meanwhile, the ultra-progressive Socialist Worker last week complained that First Step “is more of a tip toe than a first step. But… no matter how ineffective, First Step is a sign of changing times. It wasn’t too long ago that any politician who favored prison reform would be labeled as ‘soft on crime’. First Step reflects a lessening of the tough-on-crime rhetoric…”
It is virtually impossible to count the number of people benefitting from the retroactive Fair Sentencing Act Sec. 404 of the First Step Act) but last week The Providence Journal reported that “so far, 14 Rhode Islanders convicted under stiff mandatory-sentencing laws have gained early release under the newly enacted federal law called the First Step Act…”
Washington Post, The new criminal justice law will modestly shrink prison populations. Should we go further? (Feb. 25)
Socialist Worker, Is First Step a Step Forward? (Feb. 25)
Providence Journal, ‘First Step’ toward freedom for R.I. drug offenders (Mar. 2)
– Thomas L. Root