Houston Chronicle by Kevin Diaz 12/18/2018
It's been more than a decade since Texas, a state known for its death-chamber, embarked on a project of criminal justice reforms now credited with reducing crime, shuttering prisons, and saving taxpayer dollars.
On Tuesday, those reforms took a step toward going national with Senate passage of bipartisan legislation uniting fiscal conservatives and social liberals in one of the most far-reaching sentencing reform packages in years, reducing some federal penalties and giving judges more leeway in sentencing offenders.
The First Step Act, shepherded by Texas Republican John Cornyn, represents a rare instance of bipartisan agreement in a polarized Congress still struggling to keep the government open in a protracted dispute with President Donald Trump about immigration and border wall funding.
It also marks a remarkable consensus among libertarians and Christian conservatives looking for cost-effective prison reforms and social justice advocates seeking less punitive alternatives to long-term incarceration for nonviolent offenders.
A pet cause of Trump advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner – the son of a convicted white-collar criminal – the bill is expected to be approved by the House and get to the president's desk, possibly before the New Year.
The overwhelming 87-12 vote in the Senate belied weeks of contentious negotiations and arm-twisting to bring along law enforcement groups and conservative lawmakers, particularly Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a holdout who remained concerned with shortening prison terms for violent offenders and serious drug traffickers.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/article/Congress-poised-to-deliver-major-sentencing-13476382.php
