Campaign trails tend to twist things – promises, claims, facts. It would be a sad thing if the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015- S2123 – fell victim to such twists.
The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would roll back parts of the irrational “mandatory sentencing” system we set up in the early ‘80s to deal with drug-related crimes. Since then, the federal prison population has exploded, from about 25,000 in 1980 to more than 210,000 now —eight times as many prisoners as there were 35 years ago. Half are serving time for drug-related offenses and about a quarter are serving a “mandatory minimum” sentence.
Many of these sentences are unfairly long, and Congress has already decided to adjust some of them. The Fair Sentencing Act brought the sentences for crack-cocaine offenses closer to parity with sentences for powder-cocaine offenses. Now the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would adjust some additional sentences – but nothing in the bill gives any one a “get out of jail free” card.
The bill provides just four ways to get a reduced sentence. None of them is automatic.
- Reduced long mandatory sentences for people with prior drug-related felonies – a life sentence would go down to 25 years; a 20-year minimum sentence would go down to 15 years. A person already serving one of these sentences could ask a court to review his or her case.
- Mandatory sentences for a second crime with a firearm would apply only to people convicted of a first crime with a firearm. A person already serving one of these sentences could ask a court to review his or her case.
- The Fair Sentencing Act, reducing the mandatory sentence for crack-cocaine related crimes, would apply to people already serving the long crack-cocaine sentences. These people could apply for a judicial review of their sentences.
- Let the judges judge. In certain cases, a judge would be allowed to waive minor prior convictions, and sentence the person for the current charge only. This doesn’t apply to violent or serious drug crimes, and it doesn’t apply to anyone who is already sentenced.
- Quiet as it’s kept, the bill actually increases the maximum sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm by convicted felons to 15 years.
The “Corrections Act” part of the bill would help to develop some very important resources for people serving time – allowing for education, job training, and other preparation to return to the community as a full citizen. Investing in these re-entry programs will do far more to keep communities safe and thriving than 5 or 10 more years served for long-ago crimes.
This bill takes a few rational steps in the right direction. Just sensible. Nothing worth wrapping up in campaign rhetoric. The important thing is to take these first steps now.
