https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hYTsQY4cQweruqw0gdMwmmR12MdTFGivgMf7h6njTbs/edit

To access individual organizational letters, please click on the organizational name in the linked google doc calendar.

Justice Roundtable supports the First Step Implementation Act of 2021 (S. 1014), Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021 (S. 601), and the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act of 2021 (S. 312). All three of these bills have passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support and currently await consideration before the full Senate. These bills include measured policies that build upon a legacy of bipartisan criminal justice reform in the Senate:

• The First Step Implementation Act of 2021 builds upon the First Step Act of 2019 (FSA) to ensure no person is excluded from the FSA’s sentencing reforms.  It would also allow people serving juvenile sentences to petition the court for a second chance, but only after serving 20 years of their prison sentence, and would allow judges to consider a person’s criminal record before deciding whether to impose a mandatory minimum sentence in nonviolent drug cases.

• The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021 would end the unfair practice of courts increasing sentences based on conduct for which the accused has been acquitted by a jury—a practice currently allowed under federal law, in disregard of the 5th Amendment’s Due Process Clause—while preserving victims’ rights.

• While the Delta variant continues to spread in federal prisons, the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act of 2021 would help protect the prison population while reducing the costs of our prison system.  It would allow COVID-19 vulnerability to be considered a basis for compassionate release and expand the eligibility criteria to include those convicted of nonviolent offenses who have served at least half of their prison sentence; clarify that the percentage of time required for the Elderly Home Detention Pilot program should be calculated based on the individual’s sentence and include “good time” credits earned through good behavior; and reduce the judicial review process for elderly home detention and compassionate release from 30 days to 10 days.