U.S. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced legislation on Nov. 21 that would allow individuals serving decades-long federal sentences to petition courts for a sentence reduction or release after having served at least 10 years of their sentence. The Second Look Act would allow courts to resentence people who have been rehabilitated and are not a threat to public safety, reducing the prison population and saving taxpayer dollars.
“For too long, the American justice system blindly prioritized incarceration and longer, harsher sentences over rehabilitation,” said Kamlager-Dove.
“Today, the United States still imprisons the most people of any country in the world. Nearly one in five of the two million incarcerated people in the U.S. have served at least 10 years in prison, and about one in five are over 50 years old. While our sentencing practices have changed, these Americans’ sentences have not—and they deserve a ‘second look.’ The Second Look Act would finally provide redress for Americans whose punishments don’t fit the crime, saving critical federal resources by decreasing our overinflated prison populations.”
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“Thousands of Americans are behind bars due to the draconian sentences of the failed War on Drugs,” said Booker.
“Many of these individuals are serving excessive prison terms, are not a threat to the community, and are ready for re-entry, but they are stuck in overcrowded and costly prisons due to archaic sentencing laws. These policies don’t make us any safer and waste valuable taxpayer dollars. This bill gives people who have served their time a ‘second look’ at their sentence.”
The United States currently incarcerates more than 1.8 million people in state and federal prisons and local jails. In 2020, nearly 148,000 people in the United States were serving a life sentence or virtual life sentence of 50 years or longer, and over 55,000 people were serving a sentence without the possibility of parole. Women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population—and one out of every fifteen women in prison is serving a life or virtual life sentence.
These excessively long sentences do nothing to improve public safety. Studies show there is no evidence that longer imprisonment reduces crime, and that recidivism risk declines with age. Individuals age out of crime starting around 25 years of age, and the vast majority of released individuals over the age of 50 have a very low recidivism rate. Despite this evidence, approximately 250,000 individuals over 50 remained behind bars as of 2016, costing state taxpayers approximately $16 billion each year.
The Second Look Act would:
- Enable individuals sentenced to more than 10 years imprisonment who have served at least 10 years to petition a court to be released;
- Create a rebuttable presumption of release for petitioners who are 50 years of age or older on the date of the petition;
- Establish factors for courts to consider in determining whether a person should be released or have their sentence reduced; and
Mandate the United States Sentencing Commission issue a report to Congress detailing the effect of the provision, including the racial impact.
