First Step Act

The First Step Act, formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in December 2018. The Act enacted several changes in U.S. federal criminal law aimed at reforming federal prisons and sentencing laws in order to reduce recidivism, decreasing the federal inmate population, and maintaining public safety. Procedural history An initial version of the First Step Act, H.R. 5682, was sponsored and introduced by Rep. Doug Collins [R-GA-9] on May 7, 2018. This draft primarily focused on recidivism reduction through the development of a risk and needs assessment system for all federal prisoners. The bill directed the U.S. Attorney General to develop this system along with evidence-based recidivism reduction programs for federal prisoners. Under the bill, prison administrators would use the national risk and needs assessment system to classify a prisoner's risk of recidivism, to make decisions about which recidivism reduction programs might be appropriate for each individual, and to determine when a prisoner is prepared to transfer into prerelease custody.