The First Step Act (P.L. 115-391 756) was signed into law on December 21, 2018. The Act is a federal criminal justice reform bill that changes many harsh federal sentencing laws.  The Act also expands compassionate release for qualifying federal inmates and offers current federal inmates rehabilitative programming and the possibility for early release from prison.

Comments to the Bureau of Prisons Office of General Counsel regarding a proposed rule to apply good-time credits earned under First Step Act provisions to individuals in BOP custody with convictions under the D.C. Code.

Evolution of Federal Drug Sentencing to Compassionate Release

For John Bailey, achieving justice involved a long journey on both straight and winding roads with many obstacles along the way. But trying as it may have been, the odyssey ended by arriving at the sweetest of destinations – freedom.

Letter to Senate leadership regarding federal sentencing reform proposals that begin to address shortcomings and disparities. See the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act of 2021 (S. 312), the First Step Implementation Act of 2021 (S. 1014), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021 (S. 601), the EQUAL Act (S. 79), the Kenneth P. Thompson Begin Again Act (S. 2502), and the Driving for Opportunity Act (S. 998).

NACDL Counsel and Director of First Step Act Resource Center Elizabeth A. Blackwood’s written statement to the Department of Justice upon NACDL’s participation in a stakeholder listening session regarding realization of reforms outlined in the FIRST STEP Act (S. 756), signed into law in December 2018 and still in the process of being implemented.

Coalition letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the risks of contracting COVID-19 for those living and working in carceral facilities, and the release options available to reduce that risk through compassionate release, home confinement, and other CARES Act-authorized release programs (H.R.748, 2020).

Comments submitted to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with FAMM and the Justice Action Network regarding a proposed rule on earned time credits authorized by the FIRST Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

Comments to Attorney General William Barr regarding the Risk and Needs Assessment System in the implementation of the First Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

Letter to Attorney General William Barr regarding the Department of Justice's lacking implementation of the FIRST Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

Long underused and unfairly applied by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, federal compassionate release is seeing a revival under the First Step Act. That law not only corrected many of the flaws in the way the BOP handled compassionate release requests, but allows prisoners direct access to the courts. The new law clarifies the broad range of circumstances related to age, illness, and family circumstances that might trigger eligibility for relief and further opens up exciting new opportunities to seek reconsideration of sentences that are no longer appropriate for a variety of other reasons.

Brief Amicus Curiae of National Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers In Support Of Petitioner (on petitioner for a writ of certiorari).

Argument: Timely resolution of the question presented is of great practical importance to First Step Act movants. Appellate-court decisions remanding for considers of the § 3553(a) factors have resulted in significantly reduced sentences. The temporal gap between the original sentencing and First Step Act proceeedings underscores the importance of an update § 3553(a) analysis. In light of the very real possibility that renewed § 3553(a) consideration results in lower sentences, the Court must intervene now.

Brief of Retired Federal Judges, Former Federal Prosecutors, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner. 

Argument: Defendants sentenced for crack cocaine offenses under the pre-2010 version of § 841(b)(1)(C) are eligible for resentencing under the First Step Act of 2018.  The First Step Act’s resentencing provisions apply to offenses whose penalties were “modified” by the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010.  Although defendants sentenced under the pre-2010 version of § 841(b)(1)(C) remain eligible for their original sentences after the statute was recently amended, the sentences they would have received under the post-2010 version of the statute almost certainly would have been lower—likely significantly lower.  That is because the Fair Sentencing Act dramatically expanded the drug quantities to which § 841(b)(1)(C) applies.  All else equal, a sentencing judge generally aims to align the various drug-quantity ranges in § 841(b) with the corresponding sentence ranges—assigning lower sentences for lower quantities and higher sentences for higher quantities.  In other words, the drug-quantity benchmarks in § 841(b) exert a powerful anchoring influence over a judge’s sentencing decisions.  And Congress changed the relevant anchor points 2010.  Thus, it “modified” the statutory penalties in § 841(b)(1)(C), and defendants sentenced under that provision are entitled to resentencing.

Brief of the Federal Public and Community Defenders for the Judicial Districts of the Sixth Circuit and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae in Support of Reversal.

Argument: The career offender guideline is problematic. The impact of the career offender guidelines was even more severe before the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The severity of the career offender guideline does not advance the purposes of sentencing. The career offender guideline has an unwarranted adverse impact on Black defendants. A career offender sentence creates rather than avoids unwarranted disparity in the ordinary case. Courts must take special care when considering the need to avoid unwarranted disparity for those deemed career offenders and eligible for First Step Act relief.

Courts around the United States have increasingly recognized that the coronavirus is an extraordinary and compelling reason warranting release of inmates. Several courts have heeded the call from legal and medical experts to release vulnerable and old inmates from inherently unsafe facilities.