A bill to alter the criminal justice system in the United States is exactly what its name implies: A good first step.
The Senate approved by an 87-12 vote the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act. Because lawmakers like acronyms, that translates to the FIRST STEP Act, and it is a move in the right direction toward reforming our justice system. The House of Representatives is expected to approve the bill, and President Trump has said he is eager to sign it.
While the fact that the Senate was able to find consensus on important legislation is noteworthy, the more important impact of the legislation is that it might signal a change in how this nation approaches incarceration. For far too long, politicians have been eager to demonstrate they are “tough on crime” while labeling their opponents “soft on crime.” What has been lost in the discussion is whether or not we are being “smart on crime.”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. said: “For the first time in a long time … our country will make a meaningful break from the decades of failed policies that led to mass incarceration, which has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, drained our economy, compromised public safety, hurt our children and disproportionately harmed communities of color while devaluing the very idea of justice in America.”
The bill also has plenty of Republican support, including from the administration. Senior advisor Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, led administration efforts to push the bill through the Senate.
While the First Step Act is being heralded from both sides of the political spectrum, its impact will be relatively modest. It focuses the harshest sentences on the most violent offenders — as it should — and it reduces penalties for nonviolent drug offenders. It provides credit for good behavior, gives more sentencing discretion to judges, and focuses on rehabilitation efforts in prisons.
The changes are necessary, but the real impact will come if states follow the lead of the federal government. The First Step Act applies only to federal prisoners, who represent a small fraction of incarcerated Americans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 10 percent of prisoners are in federal facilities; the rest are in state prisons or local jails.
All of that adds up to staggering numbers. According to World Prison Brief, the United States has about 2.1 million prisoners — by far the most of any nation in the world. More significantly, we have the highest rate of incarceration, with more than 650 prisoners for every 100,000 people. El Salvador ranks second in that statistic.
Effective law enforcement and incarceration is essential to a civilized society and crucial to community safety. There always will be bad people out there who present a danger to the public, and they must be held accountable for their crimes. But the extent of incarceration in the United States has often been detrimental, dividing families and damaging communities through excessive sentences in which the punishment does not match the crime. More important, our prison system has been ineffective in preparing inmates for life after incarceration, which must be the aim of any reform effort.
Ideally, the First Step Act will signal a change in thinking that will be embraced at the state level. The goal is not necessarily to put fewer people in prison, but to provide more equitable sentencing guidelines that better serve the public. Toward that end, the latest act from Congress is, indeed, a good first step.
