In December 2018 the United States enacted the First Step Act, the most significant federal criminal-justice reform in a generation. The bipartisan law eased certain mandatory-minimum drug sentences, expanded the 'safety valve,' made the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act's crack-cocaine reductions retroactive, and created earned-time credits and rehabilitation programming for federal prisoners. Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley led the bill through the Judiciary Committee, with Cory Booker among its lead Democratic authors; the Senate passed the revised bill 87-12 before it was signed on December 21, 2018.
In December 2018 the United States enacted the First Step Act, the most significant federal criminal-justice reform in a generation. The bipartisan law eased certain mandatory-minimum drug sentences, expanded the 'safety valve,' made the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act's crack-cocaine reductions retroactive, and created earned-time credits and rehabilitation programming for federal prisoners. Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley led the bill through the Judiciary Committee, with Cory Booker among its lead Democratic authors; the Senate passed the revised bill 87-12 before it was signed on December 21, 2018.
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While domestic rather than supranational, the First Step Act exemplifies legislative accountability mechanisms that push a justice system toward fairer, more rights-respecting outcomes; mapped here as a mild strengthening of accountability pressure given the available driver set.
