One of the highlights of my career in Congress was standing in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump as he signed the First Step Act into law. I was the primary Republican co-sponsor of this bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, and not only do I remain incredibly proud of the landmark prison and sentencing reforms we passed, I am also heartened to see my colleagues on both sides of the aisle poised to go a step further with the imminent passage of the EQUAL Act.
First Step was a modest, targeted reform (hence the name) that addressed unfairly long prison sentences for a very narrow category of low-level, nonviolent offenders. Violent offenders are not eligible for sentencing relief under First Step. Only nonviolent offenders can accrue earned time credits for participation in recidivism-reduction programming.
One of the most famous examples of unfair federal sentencing is Alice Marie Johnson. Alice was a first-time drug offender convicted of a drug conspiracy in federal court. The prosecutor offered her a plea deal of six years in prison; instead, she took her chances at trial and received a life sentence.
Thankfully, President Trump saw the injustice in Alice’s story and granted her clemency. She became the face of the First Step Act campaign, even starring in President Trump’s first campaign ad during the Super Bowl. Alice has now launched her own nonprofit organization, Taking Action for Good, which works to reform archaic laws and bring rehabilitated citizens home.
Another success story from the First Step Act is Matthew Charles, who was released after serving 21 years of a 35-year sentence, only to be told by the Department of Justice that his release was a mistake. Even though he had accepted Jesus as his savior and worked tirelessly toward rehabilitation, Matthew was forced back behind bars. After the passage of First Step, he was released again thanks to a provision in the act that retroactively applied the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the shocking 100-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine to an arbitrary 18-1 disparity.
Matthew now lives in his beloved Tennessee, is active in his church and faith programs for incarcerated people, and works for FAMM, an organization devoted to speaking for families devastated by unfair mandatory minimum sentences.
But it’s the data, not just the stories, that show the real success of the First Step Act. The narrow, targeted focus of the bill has had a profoundly positive impact on public safety. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, around 49% of federal offenders are rearrested for a new crime or violation of supervision conditions. However, according to this DOJ report, only 11% of those released under the First Step Act recidivated within the first two years.
So it’s no surprise that law enforcement is spearheading a bill called the EQUAL Act, which appears to be the next great success story for bipartisan criminal justice reform. The legislation, which has already passed the House on a whopping 361-66 bipartisan vote, would finally and fully eliminate the unjustifiable 18-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Roughly 90% of those serving time for crack offenses at the federal level are black, which means they serve vastly longer prison sentences than those convicted of powder cocaine offenses, even though the substances are chemically similar and equally dangerous.
According to the country’s most respected law enforcement leaders, eliminating this disparity would help police officers build trust with communities of color, especially in urban areas where law enforcement finds it difficult to cultivate sources to investigate murders, shootings, and other violent crimes. That’s why the National District Attorneys Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, and state and local prosecutors, police chiefs, and sheriffs around the country have endorsed the bill and are leading the charge for its passage.
In this environment, some may see an opportunity to score cheap political points with “lock ‘em all up” rhetoric. Some isolated but brash voices have even criticized the First Step Act as a driver of the violent crime wave sweeping America’s cities. This is just flat-out false. While there are many reasons violent crime is on the rise, including an ill-advised economic shutdown during COVID that put millions of people out of work, the First Step Act is not one of them. You’d think lawmakers who claim to support police would listen to law enforcement on what is best for public safety. And polling shows voters from the Right to the Left are still strongly supportive of commonsense reforms such as the First Step Act and the EQUAL Act.
President Trump passed bipartisan criminal justice reform, bringing together unlikely allies in a way no president before him had done. President Joe Biden should take a cue from Trump’s biggest bipartisan success story, harness the broad bipartisan and law enforcement support for the EQUAL Act, and push it across the finish line.
Doug Collins is a former congressman from Georgia, an Air Force chaplain, and an Iraq War veteran. In addition to his law practice, he is the host of The Doug Collins Podcast, which offers a conservative view on current events.
