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1 1 (December 28, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govyvy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congresina Reeac Seric S Updated December 28, 2018 Federal Correctional Reform and the First Step Act of 2018 The size of the federal prison system has grown significantly since the beginning of the 1980s. The number of convicted offenders under the Bureau of Prison's (BOP's) jurisdiction has decreased in each of the past four fiscal years, but even with the recent decrease, the number of federal prisoners in FY2017 (185,617) was six times greater than was it was in FY1980 (24,640). During the same time, the population of the United States increased by 44%. Although the federal prison population decreased from FY2013 to FY2017, appropriations for BOP continued to increase through FY2016. The BOP's appropriations, adjusted for inflation, increased by $6.5 billion from FY1980 ($871 million) to FY2018 ($7.326 billion). During this time, the BOP's expanding budget consumed a larger share of the Department of Justice's overall annual appropriations. Concerns about the financial and social costs of incarcerating a growing number of federal inmates have generated interest among some policymakers about ways to reduce the federal prison population while maintaining public safety. Aside from the costs of incarceration, other costs include the detrimental effects that incarceration can have on economic opportunities and familial bonds of people who have spent time behind bars or the potential that detention may increase an inmate's likelihood to commit other crimes. Generally speaking, there are two, not mutually exclusive, methods for reducing the number of prison inmates: (1) send fewer convicted offenders to prison or (2) reduce the length of sentences served. The 115th Congress enacted the First Step Act of 2018 (S. 756) and considered other proposals that focused on both methods. Correctiona Reform in the 5t Congress The First Step Act largely focused on (1) reducing the penalties, especially mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment, for various federal drug and firearm offenses and (2) allowing prisoners to be placed in pre-release custody earlier by earning additional time credits as part of a recidivism reduction program built upon a risk and needs assessment system. Other legislative proposals in past Congresses to reduce the federal prison population would have made broader reductions to mandatory minimum sentences. Still other proposals sought to eliminate uncertainty over the level of knowledge or intent (mens rea) that culpability for some criminal offenses requires. Reducing Penalties The First Step Act made the following changes to federal sentencing law: * Adjusted the mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug traffickers with prior drug convictions by increasing the threshold for qualifying prior convictions from 1-year drug felonies to 10-year drug felonies (but adding some violent felonies and not subjecting them to the 10-year threshold), reducing the 20-year mandatory minimum (applicable where the offender has one prior qualifying conviction) to a 15- year mandatory minimum, and reducing the lifelong mandatory minimum (applicable where the offender has two or more prior qualifying convictions) to a 25- year mandatory minimum. * Permitted drug offenders with minor criminal records to qualify for the safety valve provision, which previously applied only to offenders with virtually spotless criminal records. The safety valve allows judges to sentence low-level, nonviolent drug offenders to a term of imprisonment that is less than the applicable mandatory minimum. * Authorized courts to apply retroactively the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-220), which increased the threshold quantities of crack cocaine sufficient to trigger mandatory minimum sentences, by resentencing qualified prisoners as if the act had been in effect at the time of their offense. * Eliminated stacking; the 25-year mandatory minimum for a second or subsequent conviction for use of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime or a violent crime now applies only where the offender has a prior conviction that is already final, not where two violations are charged concurrently (as occurred under prior law). Other proposals would have done the following: * Made the adjustments to mandatory minimum sentences for repeat drug offenders and the elimination of stacking retroactive, by authorizing the courts to resentence qualified prisoners consistent with general sentencing policies. * Lowered to 10 years the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence for low-level, nonviolent participants in a substantial drug enterprise who had no more than minor criminal records. * Reduced to 15 years the 25-year mandatory minimum for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence or drug trafficking when the offender has a prior conviction for a crime of violence involving a firearm and permitted the courts to apply this reduction retroactively. https:I/crsreports.conc -- _-_

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