In one of Congress’s last acts before the government shutdown, it passed, and the president signed, the First Step Act of 2018 (the act). The act represents progress toward reducing the rate of mass incarceration and ameliorating the extensive personal and societal problems it has caused. Its successful passage was the result of years of lobbying by a coalition of left and right-wing activists and leaders (and a Kardashian) working together to start reducing a prison population inflated by over-criminalization and over-penalization.

Broadly viewed, the act is intended to achieve its aims in two principal respects: first, on the front end, by modifying sentencing laws, including reducing the application of certain mandatory minimum sentences; and second, on the back end, by providing for various re-entry services for returning citizens. While the bulk of the act is targeted toward this latter goal of reducing recidivism, its sentencing modifications, although few, are significant and will have practical effects.

Those Affected