And thank you Jermey Haile and our other panelist for their work. I believe this bill is likely to pass as it has significant bi-partisan support, yet we must look to the states to also evolve and reform, as the majority of offenders are housed in state prisons. In the most recent Bureau of Justice stats, there were a total of 1,561,500 offenders…

Thanks, Jesselyn McCurdy. Folks can learn more about the bill here.

We think one of the most important aspects of the bill is its retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. As many of you know, the Fair Sentencing Act reduced the unfair sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, which resulted in…

Thanks, Diane. We’re so grateful for your leadership as a former law enforcement officer. There’s a misconception out there that only drug kingpins are locked up in federal prisons for drug offenses. But as you note, that’s not true. There are actually thousands of low-level actors, including mules, couriers, and street-level dealers. In your…

Hi Diane M Goldstein Good to see you on here - we work lots with LEAP, great guys! I agree that the states need to reform too, and many have. In fact, it is the work in red states like Texas, Utah, and Georgia that has spurred action at the federal level. The federal component is still key though and reform is essential. For example, almost one…

According to both Stanford and the ACLU that have published reports on Prop 47 hit has returned some very promising results

The Pew Research Center in December released preliminary findings from research it did into effects in other states that have increased their felony theft threshold in recent years. Debunking some of…

One of the most important aspects of this bill is the retroactivity. What I expect to see if it passes is that even with offenders who are released early that there will be very little recidivism. In California Proposition 47 which also had retroactivity as a provision of the 4459 offenders who have been released only 159 have committed a new crime…

Thanks Michael Collins and Heather Rice-Minus. (And thanks, Jesselyn McCurdy for joining before heading off to Capitol Hill!) The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123) passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a strong bipartisan vote in October. (The House passed its own sentencing reform measure the following month.) This week, Senate…