Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Criminal justice reform: Possible effects of the First Step Act
Criminal justice reform: Possible effects of the First Step Act
Jul 15, 2025 6:57 PM

This is part three of a series on criminal justice reform.

The First Step Act was one of the last laws passed by the 115th Congress and signed by President Trump before the current federal government shutdown. The act, which largely focuses on recidivism reduction through prison reform and some sentencing reforms, is also notable for the generally bipartisan support it received.

In this finalpart of a three-part series on criminal justice reform, we’ll consider some of the implications of the act in light of the motivations for reform (addressed inpart one of the series) and what existing economic research has to say about crime and justice (addressedinpart two).

What are the reforms?

The new law includes a collection of elements that are almost certainly wins for human dignity. Among these are a prohibition on restraints on pregnant prisoners, increased access to feminine hygiene products, and restrictions on the use of solitary confinement for juveniles. But three main areas of the reform—within prisons, in sentencing, and leading up to re-entry—are plicated and merit additional analysis.

First, what are the main reforms?

1. Within Prisons

The First Step Act establishes an incentive system for offenders to participate in “evidence-based recidivism reduction” programming. One of the more consequential incentives it provides is the award of time credits for eligible prisoners. Time credit, when applied, moves offenders out of prisons and into pre-release custody (e.g.,home confinement, residential reentry center, etc.). Offenders who are determined to be of medium- or high-risk of recidivism are credited 10 days for every 30 days of “successful participation” in a qualifying program. For those deemed minimum- or low-risk, the credit increases to 15 days for every 30 days of successful participation. Even prisoners who are ineligible for time credits are allowed other incentives for program participation. (Ineligible offenders include those convicted of particularly violent crimes, kidnapping, terrorism-related acts, mitted with firearms, and other especially serious felonies.) Their incentives may include additional phone and visitation privileges, transfer to a facility nearer to their “release residence,” missary spending limits, additional email access, and other incentives as determined by the Bureau of Prisons.

2. In Sentencing

This federal law lowers the mandatory minimum for repeat drug offenders, allows judges more discretion in sentencing low-criminal history offenders, and makes retroactive a law from 2010 that reduces disparities in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine offenses. For example, before the act, a second felony drug offense would require a federal judge to sentence the offender to at least 20 years but now that mandatory minimum is set at 15 years. For those convicted of a third (or higher) felony drug offense, what was previously a mandatory life sentence is reduced to a 25-year minimum sentence. This increases the discretion of judges at the time of sentencing as does an expansion of the so-called “safety valve” that allows judges more discretion in sentencing low-criminal history offenders. In addition, prisoners convicted of drug crimes who were sentenced before the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 can now request resentencing, increasing the opportunity for those with crack cocaine convictions to have sentences reduced to parable to powder cocaine sentences, a parity that act initially established.

3. Anticipating Reentry

The act requires that prisoners be placed “as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence” and within 500 driving-miles of that residence. It also requires that the Bureau of Prisons assist prisoners in obtaining both government identification and a birth certificate before release. Both of these changes have a potential impact on post-incarceration es, by both moderating the effects of physical separation munity and family and assisting former offenders in forging new labor-market attachments upon release.

What are the likely effects?

While fewer than 10% of offenders are sentenced and incarcerated at the federal level, on net, I expect the law to have a positive impact on that population of former offenders and for society.

First, the law brings the focus of criminal corrections to recidivism reduction. Considering that the vast majority (over 90%) of incarcerated individuals will eventually reenter society, it is necessary to consider the likelihood of future criminal activity by former offenders.

Second, the law accepts and reflects that incentives matter for former offenders, consistent with the notion that offenders aren’t simply irrational or criminal types. And the incentives structure established by the law is not just limited to the explicit ones surrounding recidivism reduction programming. For example, placing offenders closer to munities and families is likely important to maintaining any existing personal connections that can be beneficial to a re-entering person. Likewise, assisting prisoners in obtaining identification is important for reemployment. We might say these efforts increase the feasibility of staying on the “right side of the law.” Economists would say that where munity, and labor market connections are strong, the opportunity costs of crime and future incarceration are high and, therefore, recidivism is less likely. In other words, families and meaningful work reduce the incentive mitting crimes.

Finally, if sentencing reform is needed to balance public budgets or, as some might say, reflect justice more than vengeance, drug offenses are probably the best place to start for reducing sentence severity. If longer sentences are less likely to reduce recidivism among substance-related felonies than mon crimes, it may be that corrections budgets can be reduced, families can be preserved, and former offenders can get back to work with little to no consequences for future criminal activity by former drug offenders.

Reasons for cautious optimism

But my optimism about the law is a cautious one for two reasons.

First, while the letter of the law repeatedly emphasizes “evidence-based” programming, it is less clear what would constitute high-quality evidence in practice. I am encouraged that the legislation specifiesempirical evidence and requires that two of five members of the independent mittee involved in identifying programs musthave “published peer-reviewed scholarship about risk and needs assessments.” It is critical that mittee members fully recognize the challenges of making predictions plex human behaviors where data is likely unavailable on an array of contributing factors. mittee should consider the large and growing empirical economics literature on criminal justice policy and reform and should employ some of the major players there. Even then, it’s a hard row to hoe, as high-quality empirical work requires massive data, multiple analyses, and significant effort. Time constraints and political pressures are likely to be especially binding in light of the First Step Act’s accelerated implementation goals. (For example, the law requires the “development of risk and needs assessment system” within 210 days of the law’s enactment.)

Finally, it is unclear how large the effect of even high-quality programs will be in light of the particular incentive structure. It is encouraging that the law suggests a thoughtful array of programs, including those that encourage family relationship building, vocational training, and cognitive behavioral treatment. The law also makes explicit a prohibition of discrimination toward faith-based programs.

But even if the “right” programs are put in place, it is not clear that the incentive structures will encourage the “right” people to join those programs. Recall that the time credit is larger for minimal- and low-risk offenders than higher-recidivism-risk offenders, and that the time credit isn’t even available to those convicted of the most serious felony offenses.

Criminal sentences should reflect justice, meaning that longer initial sentences are merited on these grounds for more series crimes. But to the extent that political pressures result in incentives toward rehabilitation that differ by crime- or criminal-type, the programs for recidivism reduction may not reach the offenders for whom the returns—to the offender and, importantly, to society—would be greatest.

Image: President Donald J. Trump Announces the “First Step Act” (Public Domain)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Martyrs remind us to fight the ‘isms’
There is a longstanding liturgical and spiritual discipline practiced in Rome during Lent. It involves celebrating mass at the crack of dawn each day at a different church in various corners of the ancient quarter of Rome. A “station church”, as they are called, is usually the site of a great Christian martyr’s death, grave or an important relic preserved over the course of several centuries. Yesterday’s station church was the Basilica of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, who was skinned...
The virtues of boredom in an anxious age
Today’s parents are fixated on setting their children on strategic paths to “success”— cramming their days with lessons, sports, clubs, camps, and so on. The goal: to enrich their kids’ lives with new knowledge and experiences. Or, monly, “to keep them busy.” We do the same for ourselves, of course, stocking our calendars with tasks and activities and our free time with the excessive consumption of media and entertainment. It’s a dangerous rhythm that keeps us swaying between anxious, in-the-moment...
Acton Line: How secularization is killing middle America
On this episode of Acton Line, Acton’s director munications, John Couretas, speaks with Tim Carney, who an editor at the Wahsington Examiner and a visiting fellow at AEI. They talk about Tim’s new book, “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse.” The “American Dream” is fading away in much of the country, and the problem isn’t pure economics, nor is it a case of stubborn old white men falling behind because they refuse embrace progress. Tim argues that...
How to eliminate 99% of all poverty
Can avoiding a handful of socially harmful activities virtually guarantee someone will not live in poverty? Social scientists in the United States said they have found the secret, and a new report from Canada has found it also applies across the northern border. The “success sequence” began with Isabel V. Sawhill and Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution, whofoundthat meeting a fewcriteriagreatly reduced the likelihood of a family living in poverty: finish high school, work full time, wait until age...
A ‘signing day’ for workers: Virginia schools celebrate seniors heading to full-time jobs
Fueled by a mix of misguided cultural pressures and misaligned government incentives, much of our educational system has e geared toward “college readiness,” promoting a narrow, one-size-fits-all vision for vocational and educational destiny. As a result, we continue to see a widening skills gap in the economy at large, as well as a shrinking cultural imagination for what constitutes a “good job” or a “meaningful career.” Despite these growing problems, politicians seemincreasingly set on cementing the status quo, whether by...
The state of entrepreneurship in America
Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is primarily and rightly regarded as a work of political science. But the book is also replete with economic observations. One of the most significant was Tocqueville’s astonishment at “the spirit of enterprise” that characterized much of the country. Americans, Tocqueville quickly realized, were mercial people.” The nation hummed with the pursuit of wealth. Economic change was positively ed. “Almost all of them,” Tocqueville scribbled in one of his notebooks, “are real industrial entrepreneurs.”...
Why everybody loses with the Powerball
When es to government programs for redistributing e, nothing is quite as malevolently effective as state lotteries. Every year state lotteries redistribute the e of mostly poor Americans (who spend between 4-9 percent of their e on lottery tickets) to a handful of other citizens—and tothe state’s coffers. A prime example is thePowerball jackpot. The third largest jackpot in U.S. history—now an estimated $750 million—will be available tomorrow. But even if someone wins this time around, millions of Americans will...
Explainer: Republican lawmakers unveil paid family leave plan
What just happened? Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Missouri) re-introduced a bill yesterday (slightly modified from one from last year) that would allow parents to use their Social Security benefits to provide paid parental leave benefits following the birth or adoption of a child. “Our proposal would enact paid family leave in America without increasing taxes, without placing new mandates on small businesses,” Rubio said in a news conference. Earlier this month, Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and...
Nixon, Trump and American myths
Two and a half years after the left created the farce – spread across the country by the established media and by resentful politicians such as the late Senator John McCain – that President Donald J. Trump had colluded with Vladimir Putin’s Russian government, the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller and a team full of Democratic Party’s supporters concluded that the president is innocent. Since 2015, President Trump has been describing the established media and its reporters as...
Game of Theories: The Austrians
Note: This is post #116 in a weekly video series on basic economics. The Austrian school of economic thought emphasizes market price signals and how municate decentralized information in an economy, says economist Tyler Cowen. The Austrian business cycle theory focuses on how central banks can distort those price signals. In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Cowen notes that while Austrians can helpfully explain some features of booms and busts, it remains to be seen whether it can be...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved