The Crime Report: Reform Groups Seek More First Step Act Funding
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In its initial budget request to Congress, DOJ sought far less money for the First Step Act and so far has not formally asked congressional appropriators to raise the total, says Inimai Chettiar of the Justice Action Network, one of the groups that is pressuring for a higher allocation.
The other organizations joining in the request are the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity, the Drug Policy Alliance, the Due Process Institute, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), FreedomWorks, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Prison Fellowship, the R Street Institute, and The Sentencing Project.
“We cannot leave it to the Department of Justice to reallocate existing funds to implement these reforms — spreading thin the already limited resources within the Bureau of Prisons,” the groups told Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee overseeing DOJ spending.
“The success of these programs will lead to cost-savings in the long run, but in order to achieve these goals we cannot afford to underfund this important initiative.”
In a separate letter, the Justice Action Network expressed concerns about a tool announced this summer by the Justice Department to assess the readiness of federal prisoners for release under the First Step Act. The tool is called PATTERN, for “Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risks and Needs.”
The Justice Action Network notes that PATTERN includes a number of “static and dynamic risk factors” to help officials assess a prisoner’s risk of recidivism
The group says that among measures included in the analyis, only a prisoner’s education level (GED or high school degree) can be considered a “dynamic” risk factor.
https://thecrimereport.org/2019/09/12/reform-groups-seek-more-first-step-act-funding/