WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement after the Supreme Court heeded his call and ruled 5-4 in favor of maintaining the strength of the bipartisan First Step Act in Hewitt v. United States:
“This is a win for criminal justice reform at the Supreme Court.
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“Our historic criminal justice reform law is a beacon for successful, smart-on-crime policies and continues to withstand the test of time. Congress wanted to make sure that sentencing reforms applied to all individuals subject to federal sentencing after the law’s enactment.”
“I’m pleased that the Supreme Court rejected the Fifth Circuit’s faulty interpretation that would’ve narrowed the scope of our law, so that the First Step Act can continue making our justice system fairer and our communities safer.”
Championed by Senators Durbin, Grassley, Booker, and Lee, the First Step Act was signed into law in 2018 andserves as a beacon for “smart on crime” policies. The law makes the Fair Sentencing Act’s reforms retroactive, as well as:
- Requires the Department of Justice to develop a risk and needs assessment system to assess the recidivism risk of all prisoners, place them in programs and activities to reduce risk, and permit early transition into prerelease custody based on earned time credits;
- Reduces mandatory minimum sentences for some drug trafficking offenses;
- Expands the safety valve to allow judges to sentence low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with minor criminal histories to less than the required mandatory minimums; and
- Authorizes incarcerated individuals to file compassionate release motions in federal court.
These reforms have been tremendously successful. As noted in a January 2024 hearing, of the 44,671 incarcerated adults released under First Step Act reforms, only 9.7 percent have been arrested for new crimes. By comparison, the overall Bureau of Prisons recidivism rate currently stands at around 45 percent. To date, there have been 4,161 retroactive sentence reductions and 4,849 compassionate release motions granted.
