releases: https://seanmaloney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/maloney-supports-passage-of-bipartisan-criminal-justice-reform-bill
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://seanmaloney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/maloney-supports-passage-of-bipartisan-criminal-justice-reform-bill | Maloney Supports Passage of Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform Bill | 2018-12-20 | 2018 | 2018-12 | Democrat | House | NY | Sean Maloney | M001185 | seanmaloney.house.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON - Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) supported today's passage of the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act or FIRST STEP Act. The bill is the most sweeping federal criminal justice legislation passed in the last two decades. The bill will improve reentry services to prevent recidivism, reduce mandatory minimum sentences, cut penalties under the three strikes law, and establish good time credits to allow more inmates to reenter society. This isn't going to solve all of the problems in our criminal justice system, but it's a great start to tackling the problem of mass incarceration, said Rep. Maloney. For too long, our broken system has locked people up and thrown away the key and it's disproportionately hurt communities of color. We need to get people ready for life after incarceration and address mandatory minimums that too often target low-income communities. This bill does just that. Moving forward, we should focus on the front-end of our criminal justice system. I'd like to get rid of cash bail, which really just punishes people for not having a lot of money. I think we also need to pass a few bills I introduced which will divert people with addictions to treatment rather than just locking them up and guarantee minors and people living in poverty get fair legal counsel. The FIRST STEP Act makes a series of reforms to our criminal justice system to give offenders better opportunities to reenter society sooner. The bill would reduce mandatory minimum sentencing from life in prison to 25 years in some cases. The bill also makes significant investments in and expands incentives for reentry programs which help formerly incarcerated people readjust to life outside of prison. It would also retroactively apply 2010 sentencing reform which aligned penalties for crack cocaine with those for powder cocaine, which had long been regarded as an attack on low-income communities and communities of color. FIRST STEP also expands good time credits to give inmates who exhibit good behavior while in prison opportunities to leave prison earlier. Rep. Maloney has been a leader on criminal justice reform issues, focusing specifically on preventing incarceration based on addiction, poverty, or inadequate legal counsel. In 2017, he reintroduced his Keeping Communities Safe Through Treatment Act, which would create a Department of Justice (DOJ) grant program to fund pre-booking drug diversion programs, which give law enforcement the option of diverting individuals directly to treatment instead of booking them. He also introduced the Equal Justice Under Law Act and Gideon Act alongside New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. The Equal Justice Under Law Act would empower indigent criminal defendants to take action against states and localities that systematically fail to provide effective assistance of counsel in felony cases. The Gideon Act would establish a federal corporation dedicated to delivering independent, uniform, and quality defense representation in criminal cases before the United States Supreme Court and, at times, in the highest courts in the states. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |