Trump Seeks Crime Reform… And It’s Not First Step Act 2.0, Either – Update for September 4, 2025

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

President Trump said last Wednesday that Republican leaders in Congress were working with him on a “comprehensive crime bill” in what the New York Times called “his latest effort to push the issue of crime to the foreground of American politics.”

“It’s what our Country needs, and NOW!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “More to follow.” He said both House and Senate Republican leadership were working on the bill, but he offered no details.

A new crime bill would normally be a welcome opportunity to amend the First Step Act, especially to address the Federal Time Credit program. However, the bad news is that Trump does not appear to have a crime bill of that kind in mind.

Targeting what he calls “out of control” crime was central to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, although US crime is near its lowest level in decades. He has raised the issue in the last two months, with the deployment of National Guard in Washington DC to allegedly control crime there.

Politico reported last week that Trump’s latest comments have puzzled Republicans on Capitol Hill, who don’t know what “comprehensive” measure the president is talking about. Trump discussed extending his control over the DC police with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last Tuesday. The House Oversight Committee, which has jurisdiction over DC issues, plans to advance some bills this month to crack down on juvenile crime, reform the education system, and unwind certain policing policies. However, Politico notes, “it’s the Judiciary Committee that would have to advance any crime-related bills that are national in scope.”

Trump ramrodded First Step through Congress in 2018. But running in 2024, Trump distanced himself from his own achievement, barely mentioning FSA on the campaign trail. In 2023, Florida’s governor and a rival presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, attacked FSA as a “jailbreak bill” and pledged to repeal it.

And while Trump did appoint Alice Marie Johnson, a woman he pardoned in 2020, as pardon czar soon after returning to the White House, “he doesn’t appear eager,” the New York Times said last week, “to remind voters of his criminal justice reform measures… Instead, Trump is pushing for tougher sentencing, including against minors.”

“They’re children, but they’re criminals,” Trump said at last Tuesday’s marathon Cabinet meeting as he turned to his attorney general, Pam Bondi. “We are getting that changed, Pam, I hope, because you have 14-year-old kids that are evil, they’re sick, and they have to be put away.”

At the same meeting, Trump said he wants to see the death penalty imposed on every person convicted of murder in DC. “If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, D.C., we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,” Trump said. “And that’s a very strong preventative.”

Trump appointed Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro as US Attorney for the District of Columbia after even Republicans refused to confirm firebrand Ed Martin for the post. Pirro has talked a tough game in support of Trump’s theme that DC crime is out of control, demanding that her prosecutors bring the harshest charges allowable, even for minor infractions. Now, Salon reported this past weekend, “her aggressive posture is colliding with real-world constraints, exposing both her limitations and the fragility of politicized law enforcement.”

Pirro recently revealed that she is getting help from military lawyers, because her office is short 90 prosecutors and 60 investigators and paralegals. DC federal courts, which normally process about six new criminal cases per week, now face six or more cases per day, many stemming from low-level offenses that would’ve been diverted or even dismissed previously.

The increase in workload may be unique to DC, but the staffing is not. According to reports I have received, seasoned AUSAs and support staff have been resigning from US Attorneys’ offices around the country. One federal defense attorney told me last week that the quality of work and responsiveness of AUSAs in his district, the Southern District of Ohio, has fallen dramatically since January. “It’s hard to get a call back,” he said.

Salon said last week, “It’s clear that Pirro’s [charging] directives are unsustainable.” With so many people around the country heading for the exits, US attorneys’ offices may be unable to execute on a harsh new crime bill, even if one passes. That does little to address the bad news that an opportunity to reduce recidivism even more by tweaking FSA – and helping prisoners in the process – may be lost in the tough-on-nonexistent–crime posturing.

Writing in Sentencing Law and Policy last week, Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman observed that “[a] decade into the Trump era, I have learned not to take too literally or too seriously what Donald Trump says on social media.  But given that Prez Trump and his GOP allies are viewing crime fighting and crime policy as a winning political issue (and also that Democrats are struggling with a response… new political talk of a new “Comprehensive Crime Bill” makes lots of sense… But, of course, the devil is in the details when it comes to enacting big new federal legislation and in navigating the modern politics and policy-making of crime and punishment.  The First Step Act was truly the culmination of decades of federal criminal justice reform debates, and it is unclear what sets of criminal justice proposals will get enough support in Congress to get to the desk of the President. (I assume a crime bill would not find a way to be immune from the Senate filibuster, so at least 60 Senate [votes] would seem to be a necessity for any bill.)”

New York Times, Trump Says Republicans Are Working on a ‘Comprehensive’ Crime Bill (August 27, 2025)

Politico, Republicans scratch their heads over Trump’s ‘comprehensive’ crime bill (August 27, 2025)

New York Times, In Trump’s 2nd Term, More Incarcerations, Less Talk of Reform (August 27, 2025)

Washington Post, Trump wants expanded death penalty, longer control over police in D.C. (August 26, 2025)

Salon, Fox News star’s jump to the Trump administration is backfiring (August 31, 2025)

Sentencing Law and Policy, Is it too early to speculate about what could be in a new “Comprehensive Crime Bill”? (August 27, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root