Editorial Board
‘First Step’ on Prison Reform Is the Right Step
Having passed a bipartisan criminal-justice bill, Congress should build on momentum for change.
Now multiply by 2.2 million.
Photographer: Giles Clarke/Getty Images North AmericaCongress and President Trump deserve credit. With the bipartisan First Step Act, they’ve taken a meaningful, if modest, step toward evidence-based policies on punishing crime. More ambitious steps should follow next year.
The new law, signed by Trump on Friday, gives judges more discretion to skirt mandatory minimum sentences. It makes retroactive a previous reform that better aligned sentences for crack cocaine with those for powder cocaine. It expands inmates’ access to rehabilitation programs and slightly increases the credits they can earn to reduce their time in federal prison.