A couple of early celebrations as FIRST STEP Act approaches its fifth anniversary

Though we are still a few months from reaching a full five years since the enactment of the FIRST STEP Act, this past week I have seen this pair of notable new pieces marking the coming notable anniversary of this notable federal criminal justice reform: 

From Arnold Ventures, “Historic Bipartisan Justice Reform Turns Five.”  It begins:

Five years ago, in 2018, then President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act into law, finalizing one of the most significant changes to federal sentencing and corrections policy since the 1970s.  Recognizing the social and personal toll from decades of rising jail and prison populations, the bill sought to stem the tide of mass incarceration in America. ​ “Criminal justice reform was no longer a niche cause, but one that responded to a nationally recognized social problem with a movement that had itself gone national — with all the internal divisions we might expect,” writes Colleen P. Eren in a new book, Reform Nation: The First Step Act and the Movement to End Mass Incarceration.

From The Crime Report, “The First Step Act: A Five-Year Review and the Path Forward.”  It begins:

Signed into law in December 2018, the First Step Act (FSA) now allows federal inmates to significantly reduce their actual penal custody time.  That fits into the primary goal of The Act, which is to reduce recidivism among nonviolent offenders through greater emphasis on rehabilitation in the Bureau of Prisons.