The criminal reform bill has passed. The First Step Act has many, many flaws. Allowing criminals out of jail en masse, regardless of their crime is a colossally bad idea. These criminals have all bargained their sentences down in the first place.
Al Sharpton and the Democrats are for it! That should have scared Republicans away. What good it this? It won’t get Republicans votes but it will cost them votes. Something like 184,000 criminals will be loose on our streets. Yippee!
Trump’s push for this bill will become a Willie Horton catastrophe that will hurt him with the first murder, and there will be one.
A tweet by Senator Cotton describes general concerns succinctly. The act lets child molesters out early despite their extremely high recidivism rate and the seriousness of their crimes.
Beyond nightmarish.
The #PrisonReform bill’s pet name is #FirstStepAct. pic.twitter.com/GlefJSLBpK
— Penelope Maynard (@penelope7usa) December 19, 2018
CRACK AND COCAINE ARE NOW POT
Among its provisions are a softening of federal mandatory-minimum sentencing requirements, retroactive application of the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act — which sought to reduce disparities between crack and powder cocaine possession punishments — and an increase in “credits” inmates can earn to shorten their sentences, NY Mag writes.
Let me translate that for you. Crack, heroin, and cocaine — extremely dangerous drugs — will be treated like pot. The sentences for drug smugglers will be lowered considerably.
SENATOR COTTON’S TAKE
Senator Cotton has some powerful objections.
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“If anything, we have an under-incarceration problem,” the 41-year-old said during a speech at the Hudson Institute that year. “You’re releasing thousands of serious, repeat, [and] in some cases violent offenders within weeks or months of this bill being passed,” he told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Tuesday.
“It’s almost certain that they’re going to commit terrible crimes.”
The recidivism risk posed by shorter sentences has been Cotton’s biggest concern.
“[The] First Step Act allows violent felons and sex offenders to be released early,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “[It] is surprising to me that conservatives … have faith that government bureaucrats can judge the state of a felon’s soul and predict his future behavior,” he wrote for the National Review.
Does it make sense to reduce incarcerations by pretending the crimes aren’t that bad and letting them out?
Rep. Meadows wanted to put some protections for victims — a victims’ rights amendment, but the hacks wouldn’t let him put it in.
There is good news for the seriously off-topic. Lynching is now a federal crime, according to ABC News.GO. It was approved unanimously by the Senate. That’s what the Senate is spending their time this week.
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