Overwhelming Bipartisan Majorities Support Bill Giving Judges Discretion to Moderate Prison Sentencing

Abstract

A new survey finds overwhelming bipartisan support for provisions in a bill that would give judges greater discretion to ease prison sentencing, sponsored by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). Some provisions were also contained in the House-passed First Step Act. Both pieces of legislation would roll back mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses that were set in the 1990s in response to a surge in crime, which has since abated. Such mandatory minimums played a key role in the more than doubling of the rates of incarceration that occurred in the subsequent decades. Proponents of the bill argue that this level of incarceration was an over-reaction that should be moderated, while opponents of the bill credit the high levels of incarceration with the reduction in crime.