There’s been some chatter in the news (though perhaps not as much as we’d like to see) about a bipartisan Senate plan, called the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, to implement real judicial reform in regards to mandatory sentencing. According to The People’s Vanguard of Davis, the plan “could represent a major reform the nation’s criminal justice system. It would give judges and courts more discretion in doling out sentences for some drug offenders and offers low-risk inmates already in the system access to programs that aim to prepare them for a life beyond their cells.”

It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? It could be, if it applied to everyone.

See, the new Act only applies to people serving time in federal prisons. The Federal Bureau of Prisons puts that number (as of October 1, 2015) at 205,795. But what about the other 1.3 million people in state prisons around the country? They don’t benefit from the changes to the mandatory sentencing laws, because state and federal prisons don’t follow the same rules. Yes, we will see a reduction in sentences for federal prisoners, but this new act will do literally nothing to help the overcrowding in facilities around the country. Here in Tennessee, we could use that help, too: the American Legislative Exchange Council projects an 11.7% increase in our prison population over the next 12 years, and expects the unmet bed demand to have doubled between the 2013, the original date of the report, and 2018.

What the new Act does

While no real reform or help is forthcoming in Tennessee, federal prisoners could benefit from the Act providing they fit a very particular set of parameters. For example, the bill repeals “three strike rule” which was already severely weekend in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Johnson decision, and it “reduces the enhanced penalties that apply to repeat drug offenders,” but can only be applied to offenders who have not been convicted of a serious violent or serious drug felony. On the surface, you might think that sounds fair – but what, in the government’s mind, is a “serious” drug felony? Aren’t all drug crimes serious? And if this discrepancy is up to a judge, will there be any streamlining so that a judge in the Eastern District has the same information as one in the Western District, or will it continue to be up to each judge’s discretion?

The Act also “expands the reach of the enhanced mandatory minimum for violent firearm offenders to those with prior federal or state firearm offenses but reduces that mandatory minimum to provide courts with greater flexibility in sentencing.” In other words, judges can now sentence a person convicted of a violent firearm offense to fewer years in prison, but as the definition of what a violent firearm offense is just got broader, more people might be convicted of the charge depending on the circumstances.

There is some good in the bill, however; it “would give more inmates the chance to earn early release by participating in educational and other rehabilitative programming; seal or expunge juvenile records, so people are not burdened for life because of crimes they committed when they were young; and make it easier for older inmates to seek early release,” as the New York Times puts it. But again – these apply only to federal prisoners.

The Act is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough. It does nothing to help people serving long and unwieldy sentences right here in Tennessee, of course, but that is a change that needs to be made from within. And given local law enforcement’s seeming desire to lock up as many people as they can, we might not see that change soon.

Until we do, you can trust the Sevierville criminal defense attorneys of Delius & McKenzie, PLLC to protect your rights in federal, state or local courts. Please contact us to schedule an appointment with one of our lawyers. We proudly serve clients in and around Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, and will make in-custody visits when necessary.