Recent Proposals To Reform Federal Sentencing Laws Elicit Qualified Praise | Eastern North Carolina Now

 Publisher's note: The author of this post is Jon Guze, who is the Director of Legal Studies for the John Locke Foundation.

 The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 was introduced this month by a bi-partisan group of US Senators that includes Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Mike Lee (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). Adam Bates describes the bill at Cato.org and suggests that, all things considered, it represents a significant step in the right direction:


 Julie Stewart, the President of Families Against Mandatory Minimums also offers praise. She calls the bill one of "the most significant pieces of sentencing reform legislation in a generation" and adds:


 A similar bill, the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015, was introduced in the House this month.

 The problems of over-criminalization and excessive incarceration have been the subject of increasing bi-partisan concern in recent years, and the bills introduced this month are not the first sentencing reform bills to be introduced this year -- nor, as Jacob Sullum notes at Forbes.com, are they the most radical:


 While he would have preferred either of these previous proposals, on balance Sullum agrees with the other commentators about the new Senate proposal: