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

ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST STEP

The first anniversary of the First Step Act, which passed just before Christmas, generated a few observations in the media. USA Today ran an opinion piece that said “the sweeping measure has succeeded over the past year in reducing the number of people serving unjust sentences in our federal prison system. It has been estimated that the measure would impact more than 12,000 cases a year.”

Michael Deegan-McCree, who heads The Bail Project and had worked with #cut50, wrote that the real achievement of First Step was that it led to bipartisanship in an era that lacks it. “From my vantage point, and that of many others who fought for the federal act, the true success of this legislation a year out is the example it has set for bipartisan cooperation in criminal justice reform on the state level — where nearly all incarceration cases begin and the majority remain. The legislation has given Democrats and Republicans political cover and the ability to fight for a system that champions treatment over punishment and rehabilitation over retribution.”

New York University law professor Rachel Barkow, a former member of the United States Sentencing Commission, wrote last week that further reform will require a “president who is committed to making criminal justice reform a top priority and uses the bully pulpit to educate the public about all the reforms that are needed as a matter of both fairness and public safety.”

Even so, she said, much of the problem is currently beyond anyone’s reach. “Right now,” she wrote, “the federal bench is overwhelmingly dominated by people who spent part of their careers defending the government and serving as prosecutors. While that is a commendable career choice and we want some of our judges to have that experience, things go awry when you have a bench that disproportionately has that experience.”

USA Today, A year out, First Step is powerful example for states of bipartisan criminal justice reform (Dec. 31)

Brennen Center, Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration (Jan. 3)

– Thomas L. Root