by John G. Malcom This past May, the Trump administration’s leadership on meaningful, conservative criminal justice reform helped the House to pass the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person (or First Step) Act by a vote of 360 to 59. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced his support for the Senate’s amended version of the First Step Act, including some modest yet much-needed sentencing reforms. Now is the time for the full Senate to debate whether it will approve this bill, return it to the House for a vote, and send it on to the president—who said he “will be waiting with a pen” for Congress to get this done, because “it is the right thing to do.” Conservative states have led the way on similar criminal justice reforms, adopting changes that successfully increase public safety, reduce prison spending, strengthen families and communities, and offer more Americans a second chance to lead a safe and prosperous life. Federal prisons, like any other function of the federal government, should also be judged by outcomes, not intentions—by data, not rhetoric. [ RELATED: Why It’s Not ‘Soft On Crime’ to Support Criminal Justice Reform ] Since 1980, the federal prison population…
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