Urging follow up to the First Step Act's "monumental success"

Timothy Head has this new commentary under the headline "Trump’s First Step Act Was a Monumental Success. His New Administration Has a Chance to Build On It." I recommend the full piece, and here are excerpts (with links from the original):

The First Step Act of 2018 remains one of President Trump’s most important legacies from his first term.  It has been a tremendous success by virtually any measure, and it’s part of a critical but underserved area of legislative reform. What’s more, it was bipartisan and remains extraordinarily popular.

Polling indicates that most Americans recognize our criminal justice system needs reform — perhaps because Americans also recognize that the success or failure of our criminal justice system has direct implications for them personally.  A striking 81% of likely voters in 2024 said they’d support reforms to the criminal justice system, with the numbers almost equally high across political affiliations. More than three-quarters of Republicans signaled support.  Upwards of 80% of Democrats and Independents did as well.

That’s because Americans understand that a functioning criminal justice system has little to do with ideology. It’s about ensuring the institutions we rely on to keep us safe, free, and flourishing do what they were originally created to do.

Continuing to refine and modernize our justice system not only offers Trump a widely-supported opportunity to better the nation; it’s also a chance for him to further cement his legacy as a transformational reformer of American government.

There’s already a promising roster of legislation filed in Congress that would serve as a worthy follow-up to President Trump’s successes in 2018.  Take the Federal Prison Oversight Act, the Clean Slate Act, and the Safer Supervision Act as examples.  All three would serve as crucial steps toward lasting, system-level reform of our criminal justice system.