Donald Trump · Republican · Legislation

First Step Act (Criminal Justice Reform)

Dec 21, 2018
Donald TrumpJustice & Civil LibertiesLegislationFirst term (2017–21)
📜 View the official record on federalregister.gov

What happened

Signed bipartisan criminal-justice reform reducing some mandatory minimums, expanding earned time credits, and making the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act retroactive.

How it happened

Passed Congress with broad bipartisan majorities and signed December 21, 2018.

Documented impact

Positive impactsubstantiated
Thousands of prisoners released or resentenced, with lower recidivism.
In year one, >3,000 were released via recalculated good-time credits and >2,000 benefited from retroactive sentencing; the Council on Criminal Justice found recidivism 37% lower among those released under the Act.

Sources

Every claim above links to its source. Primary record and cited reporting: