There are dozens of issues we must address regarding our criminal justice system, including huge ones like mass incarceration, high rates of recidivism, stop-and-frisk, use-of-force standards, qualified immunity, no-knock warrants, bail, inadequate mental health services for offenders, and sentencing guidelines. (see our solutions for these here)
But as usual, Congress’ half-assed attempt to fix even one or two of these issues is completely inadequate. The First Step Act of 2018 was signed into law on December 21, 2018 and was presented as the most significant overhaul of the federal criminal justice system in decades – a “once in a generation” success!
A major part of the legislation aimed to reduce sentences for inmates sentenced under old, unfair crack cocaine laws. Back in the day, being caught with five grams of crack (a type of cocaine used more often by black drug users) carried the same mandatory minimum sentence as being caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine (used more often by white drug users). The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 first addressed the disparity in sentences for these charges, but the guidelines set back then were not retroactive.
After the First Step Act of 2018 was passed and signed, the White House and Capitol Hill were delirious with self-congratulation. Members of both parties just couldn’t believe what a phenomenal job they had done!! And Republicans and Democrats accomplished it together! YAY for bipartisanship!
Both sides of the aisle gleefully gloated on cable news and press conferences and celebrated their awesomeness up and down the campaign trail. Honestly, they were acting like they achieved world peace.
So, imagine our surprise when we finally researched the legislation’s outcomes. Based on information posted on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website in November 2025, since the legislation was passed in 2018 there have been 4,163 retroactive sentence reductions; 4,888 compassionate releases; and 1,246 elderly offenders moved to home confinement. There are currently 4,884 other inmates in home confinement; 7,130 inmates participating in Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT); and 8,027 in Residential Reentry Centers (RRCs).
Is this a joke? Friends, if this is what Congress calls a “once in a generation” success, we’re in even more trouble than we thought we were.
On average, there are over 155,000 inmates sitting in federal prisons at any given time. There have been 4,163 retroactive sentence reductions. That means just 2.7 percent of inmates have benefitted from what was supposed to be the crowning achievement of this legislation. It’s true that around 53,955 federal inmates have been released early over the past seven years because of the legislation – an average of 7,707 a year – but getting released early for “good behavior” is nothing new.
We recognize this sounds negative. Please know, we really, really tried to find something encouraging in these numbers – and we did because 4,163 people who had been unfairly sentenced finally got a little justice. That’s not nothing.
It reminds us of that Vacation Bible School story of the starfish. One morning, a man was walking along the beach and saw a little girl picking up a starfish from the sand and gently putting it back into the ocean. The man asked the little girl what she was doing, and the little girl replied, “I’m putting these starfish back in the ocean. The tide is going out and if I don’t put them back into the water they will die.” The man said, “But there are miles of beach and hundreds of starfish. There are too many. You can’t possibly make any difference!” The little girl smiled as she gently put another starfish back into the water. “It made a difference to this one,” she said.
We are very, very happy that justice has been served for these 4,163 people and, generally, we’re people who are always up for celebrating even the tiniest advancement toward success (especially if there is Champagne involved!). We’re usually a cheerleader for even the smallest victories.
But history tells us we can’t be that way with the U.S. Congress. Just look at their oversized self-congratulations on this grossly inadequate legislation. We promise you, if we don’t hold their feet to the fire on the daily, they will convince themselves they have successfully “solved” our criminal justice challenge and leave the actual heavy lifting untouched for yet another ten years.
… then what happens to those other challenges we mentioned earlier? Like mass incarceration, high rates of recidivism, stop-and-frisk, use-of-force standards, qualified immunity, no-knock warrants, bail, inadequate mental health services for offenders, and sentencing guidelines – you know, the really, really hard things we need to solve.
