WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following President Donald Trump’s announced support of the FIRST STEP Act,John Malcolm, Vice President of Heritage’s Institute for Constitutional Government and Director of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies, issued thecomment below:

 

“As a former federal prosecutor and political appointee in the George W. Bush administration, I join leading law enforcement groups and faith-based organizations--as well as conservative Sens. Charles Grassley, John Cornyn of Texas, a former judge and state attorney general, and Mike Lee of Utah, a former federal prosecutor, among others--in supporting meaningful criminal justice reform. The Senate has a narrow window to consider these reforms which would give some offenders a second chance and may well, in the long run, enhance public safety. Today, nearly half of all federal inmates are re-arrested after they are released. This bill, aimed at changing the revolving-door narrative of prisons in ways that help ex-offenders become productive, law-abiding members of society, is well worth consideration by the Senate."

 

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