People languishing in federal prison for decades on nonviolent drug convictions may get a new chance at justice – if the U-S Senate finds the political will to pass sentencing reform in the final weeks of the lame-duck session. Groups on both left and right on the political spectrum support the First Step Act, a series of measures to give judges more freedom to get around harsh sentencing laws first passed in the 1980s and 90s. Kara Gotsch with The Sentencing Project says the bill would take the existing reforms that fixed the gulf between sentences for trafficking crack versus powder cocaine, and make them retroactive.
President Donald Trump has expressed support for the bill, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has yet to schedule a vote. The U-S has two-point-six million people behind bars right now, but these reforms would only affect the 181-thousand in federal prison. The First Step Act would also add a “safety valve” that lets judges get around mandatory minimum sentences for certain low-level, nonviolent drug cases.