Yesterday, this blog linked to some
information on the First Step Act, with support coming from Ken Blackwell and
Pastor Darrell Scott, among others. On the other hand, Ann Coulter criticized
the Act in pretty sharp terms. Then I came across Michelle Malkin’s analysis of the First Step Act; like Coulter, Malkin is tough on crime, immigration, and drug dealing, so
I was interested to see that she supports the Act:
The package of criminal justice
reform proposals endorsed by President Donald Trump is not “soft” on crime.
It’s tough on injustice. And it’s about time.
Known as the “First Step Act,” the
legislation confronts the Titanic failure of the federal government’s
trillion-dollar war on drugs by reforming mandatory minimum sentences,
rectifying unscientifically grounded disparities in criminal penalties for
crack vs. powder cocaine users, and tackling recidivism among federal inmates
through risk assessment, earned-time credit incentive structures, re-entry
programs and transitional housing.
There’s nothing radical about
giving law-breakers who served their time an opportunity to turn their lives
around and avoid ending up back behind bars. More than 30 red and blue states
have enacted measures to reduce incarceration, control costs and improve public
safety. Texas — no bleeding-heart liberal mecca — spearheaded alternatives to
the endless prison-building boom a decade ago by redirecting tax dollars to
rehab, treatment and mental health services. The Lone Star state saved an
estimated $3 billion in new public construction costs while stemming the prison
population tide.
. . .
Despite staunch support from
conservative Republican governors, prosecutors and law enforcement closest to
the ground on this issue, the same hyperbolic talking points used by some
immovable “law and order” opponents at the state level are now being used
against First Step: Cops will be endangered, critics balk. Violent monsters
will go free. Child predators and drug kingpins will flood our neighborhoods.
Scary, but deceptive. The plain
language of the bill makes clear that its “early release” provisions must be
earned. Moreover, as Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee points out: “At all times the
Bureau of Prisons retains all authority over who does and does not qualify for
early release.” Former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman, a veteran of the criminal
justice system for 20 years, notes that inmates convicted of crimes of violence
(including assaults on police), drug trafficking (including hardcore fentanyl
and heroin dealing) and child pornography would not qualify for credits.
Period. The list of ineligible prisoners is a mile long.
. . .
Critic Dan Cadman of the Center for
Immigration Studies is not satisfied and argues that “the simplest way to make
it a clean bill where immigration enforcement is concerned is to say at the
beginning of the bill that ‘none of the sections that follow in this bill apply
to incarcerated aliens.'” That should be a simple fix and is no reason to
prevent First Step from moving to the Senate floor for vigorous debate.
Full article is here.
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