[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 192 (Wednesday, December 5, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7314-S7315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to urge the majority leader to 
bring to the floor S. 3649, the First Step Act, which I have 
cosponsored. This bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senators 
Grassley and Durbin, includes positive prison reforms that the House 
passed by a 360-59 vote, combined with Senate-added provisions on 
sentencing reform that have passed out of the Judiciary Committee on a 
bipartisan basis.
  Senators on both sides of the aisle agree that our criminal justice 
system is broken and badly needs repair.
  In my own State of Maryland, we know the importance of criminal 
justice reform after the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore Police 
Department custody in 2015. Baltimore is a good example of the 
necessary Federal and State partnership we need in order to reform the 
criminal justice system. When I am talking about the criminal justice 
system, I am not only talking about the so-called back end of the 
system, which involves sentencing, corrections, and release from 
prison. I am talking about the ``front end'' of the system, which 
involves relations between the community and police and often the first 
interaction between our citizens and law enforcement.
  In Baltimore, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a Federal 
``pattern or practice'' inquiry at the request of the city of Baltimore 
and the Federal congressional delegation. This investigation led to a 
comprehensive report finding a pattern and practice of unconstitutional 
arrests and policing in Baltimore that disproportionately affected 
minority residents, particularly the African-American residents of 
Baltimore.
  Baltimore City and the Justice Department ultimately agreed to a 
consent decree and are now under supervision by the U.S. District Court 
for the District of Maryland. This will entail a multiyear process of 
overhauling the police department to finally give the citizens of 
Baltimore the police department they deserve, using the ``guardian'' 
and not the ``warrior'' model, as recommended by President Obama's Task 
Force on 21st Century Policing.
  This fall I visited the headquarters of the Baltimore Ravens in 
Owings Mills, MD, in Baltimore County. I am a Baltimore resident and 
live in Baltimore County and, of course, am a proud Ravens fan. On that 
day, I had come to discuss criminal justice reform. I wanted to hear 
directly from the Ravens players about their insights into the criminal 
justice system, and they shared their stories involving their friends 
and family with me.
  I am pleased that several Ravens players and team executives wrote a 
letter earlier this week to Senator McConnell asking him to bring this 
critical legislation to the floor. The letter reads: ``The undersigned 
players and executives of the Baltimore Ravens write to voice our 
support for the First Step Act, a bill which has the potential to bring 
transformative and much needed change to our criminal justice system. 
Criminal justice is an issue that deeply affects our community in 
Baltimore, as well as the nation as a whole. Not only will this 
legislation strengthen our nation's criminal justice system, but it 
enjoys the backing of an incredibly diverse group of supporters.''
  Indeed, this legislation is endorsed by both law enforcement and 
civil rights groups. Law enforcement groups endorsing this legislation 
include the Fraternal Order of Police, the National District Attorneys 
Association, and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement 
Executives. Civil rights groups endorsing this legislation include the 
ACLU and Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. President 
Trump has endorsed this legislation, which has a growing number of 
bipartisan Senate cosponsors.
  The legislation includes key sentencing reform provisions added by 
the Senate to the House-passed measure. First, it expands the so-called 
safety valve, which allows judges to sentence below the mandatory 
minimum for qualified low-level nonviolent drug offenders who cooperate 
with the government. Second, it makes retroactive the application of 
the Fair Sentencing Act, in which Congress addressed the crack-powder 
sentencing disparity, and allows individuals affected by this disparity 
to petition for sentence reductions. Third, it reforms the two-strikes 
and three-strikes laws, by reducing the second strike mandatory minimum 
of 20 years to 15 years and reducing the third strike mandatory minimum 
of life in prison to 25 years. Finally, the legislation eliminates the 
so-called stacking provision in the U.S. Code, which helps ensure that 
sentencing enhancements for repeat offenses apply only to true repeat 
offenders. The legislation clarifies that sentencing enhancements 
cannot unfairly be ``stacked,'' for example, by applying to conduct 
within the same indictment.
  This legislation marks the first time that the Fraternal Order of 
Police, the largest police union, has ever supported a criminal justice 
reform bill. At law enforcement's request, the bill prohibits time 
credits for individuals convicted of a fentanyl trafficking offense, as 
well as bars time credits for individuals convicted of repeatedly 
possessing or using a firearm in relation to a violent or drug 
trafficking crime.
  On the prison reform side. this legislation includes several positive 
reforms from the House-passed FIRST STEP Act. The bill makes a good 
time credit fix and revises the good-time credit law to accurately 
reflect congressional intent by allowing prisoners to earn 54 days of 
credit per year, rather than 47 days. The bill prohibits shackling 
pregnant prisoners and requires healthcare products be provided to 
incarcerated women. The bill requires prisoners be placed within 500 
driving miles of their home and provides additional phone, video 
conferencing, and visitation privileges. The bill expands evidence-
based opioid and heroin abuse treatment for inmates. The bill expands 
compassionate release under the Second Chance Act and expedites 
compassionate release applications.
  The revised Senate bill also includes several prison reforms beyond 
what were included in the House-passed bill. The bill establishes an 
Independent Review Committee of outside experts to assist in the 
development of the risk and needs assessment system. The National 
Institute of Justice would select a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization 
with expertise in risk and needs assessments to host the IRC. This 
added guardrail will help to ensure the risk and needs assessment 
system is evidence-based and minimize racial disparities.
  It allows the use of earned credits for supervised release in the 
community, such as halfway houses or home confinement. The bill also 
would permit individuals in home confinement to participate in family-
related activities that facilitate the prisoner's successful reentry.
  It effectively ends Federal juvenile solitary confinement, and limits 
the discretion of the Bureau of Prisons to deny release to individuals 
who meet all eligibility criteria.
  Let us take this first step to reform our broken criminal justice 
system by passing this legislation during this session.

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