Q&A: What’s in the criminal justice bill – and what isn’t.
Questions and answers about the criminal justice bill that appears to be heading for approval by Congress and being signed into law by President Donald Trump:
WHAT’S IN THE BILL?
The bill enhances employment and training opportunities so that federal prisoners are better prepared to return to society. It gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders and eases mandatory minimum sentences.
On the sentencing front, the bill reduces the life sentence for offenders with three convictions, or “three strikes,” to 25 years. It reduces the mandatory minimum sentence for felony drug offenses to 15 years from 20.
Another provision would allow about 2,600 federal prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses before late 2010 the opportunity to petition for a reduced penalty.
The bill also encourages prisoners to participate in programs designed to reduce the risk of recidivism, with the reward being the accumulation of credits that can be used to gain an earlier release to a halfway house or home confinement to finish out their sentence. It prohibits prisoners convicted of a wide range of serious offenses from earning such credits and gaining earlier release.
The measure also seeks to improve various aspects of prison life by requiring prisoners to be placed within 500 driving miles of their home, by banning the shackling of pregnant women and by guaranteeing free access to feminine hygiene products
WHAT’S NOT IN THE BILL?
Many advocacy groups wanted the changes easing the severity of mandatory minimum sentences to apply retroactively.
