History of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act By Set Me Free Sam

So now that you know about America's prison system, let's get an update on where the bill is in Congress. On October 1, 2015 the bill was introduced to Congress. On October 22, 2015 the bill was recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee to be considered further. This recommendation to advance the bill comes at about the same time that a report was released saying that 77% of Americans support repealing mandatory minimums for nonviolent offenses. The bill is now moved to the Senate floor and companion legislation has been moved to the House.


On November 18, 2015 the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance the Sentencing Reform Act. This means that it will go to the House floor as well as a companion bill on the Senate floor. Many people are optimistic that the bill will be heading to the President's desk soon. Michael Collins, the deputy director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, is one of those people. He said, "We have a bill moving in the Senate, and now we have a companion bill moving in the House, so I’m optimistic we’ll have legislation on the President’s desk in a matter of months.” The House vote also came a few days after a report that said almost half of the nearly 100,000 individuals in federal prison for drug offenses were in the lowest two criminal history categories, and another quarter had no prior criminal history at all. The pie chart below shows that 63% of drug offenders sent to prison since 1998 have been Class C-E felonies.

Class A is the highest felony, things such as first degree murder and rape. While Class C felonies are middle of the road felonies. An example of Class E felony is a DUI.

Do Americans really need to be wasting their tax dollars on these types of people so many years? Not to mention, do these people really need to sit in prison for years when they are apart of the lowest criminal history categories?