CCUSA, USCCB analysis of First Step Act (S. 2795)

Catholic Charities USA and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have written an analysis of the First Step Act (S. 2795) and shared it with the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The analysis expresses encouragement in the First Step Act’s effort to improve upon the criminal justice system of our country. For example, it is good that the overarching aim of the act is to orient the prison system towards programming that will help prisoners succeed once they leave prison. However, the act does not include much needed sentencing reform or a mechanism to measure racial bias in its risk assessment tool. These latter issues should be addressed in the legislation as well. Read the full letter