Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been a lead cosponsor of Senate legislation to reform the federal criminal justice system, released the following statement on growing White House and congressional Republican support for criminal justice legislation.
“For years, our bipartisan group in the Senate Judiciary Committee has been working on legislation to improve our criminal justice system. We have agreed on ways to reform our counterproductive and costly sentencing practices, and to adopt proven strategies for rehabilitating inmates to help them become productive members of society. Our legislation incorporates valuable lessons from states like Rhode Island, which are seeing real benefits of reform in lower numbers of repeat offenders, less criminal justice spending, and safer communities. Now, with the White House putting its weight behind our efforts and support from Republican leaders in Congress, I’m more hopeful than ever we will see that bipartisan work come to fruition.”
The proposal the White House supports, the First Step Act, contains prison reform legislation authored by Whitehouse and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), which they based on successful steps taken in Rhode Island and Texas to lower recidivism rates, reduce crime, and save taxpayer dollars.
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