First Step Act Reform Coming Around Again in the Senate? – Update for December 22, 2025

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

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW

The legendary Congressional odd couple – a conservative farm-country nonagenarian and liberal urban ex-bar owner – who brought you the First Step Act seven years ago are at it again.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Richard Durbin (D-IL) last week introduced several bills – all of which have been proposed before without passage – to restore some of what has expired and other FSA “fixes” needed since 2018.

The First Step Implementation Act would permit district courts to apply First Step Act sentencing reform provisions retroactively, enhance the discretion courts have when sentencing nonviolent drug offenders, and permit sealing or expunging of records of nonviolent juvenile offenses.

The Safer Detention Act would reauthorize and reform the now-expired Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program (which ended in September 2023) and make technical corrections in 18 USC § 3582(c) to benefit compassionate release procedure.

The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act – a reprise of the 2023 bill – would prohibit judges from considering conduct of which defendants had been acquitted by juries in setting sentences. The bill would take a legislative stand on an issue that the Supreme Court has so far refused to consider as a constitutional issue.

The First Step Implementation Act, the Safer Detention Act and the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act are endorsed by organizations running the gamut from the ACLU and Dream.org to Right On Crime and the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“Each of these bills strengthens public safety in a different way – by ensuring fairness at sentencing, focusing resources on dangerous individuals, and fully implementing reforms that reduce recidivism,” Brett Tolman, executive director of Right On Crime said. “Together, they move the federal system toward a smarter, more accountable, and more effective approach to public safety.”

Given that Charles Grassley is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the bills are likely to get a hearing. However, the bills all made it to the Senate floor in 2022, only to die at the end of the session without consideration.

Grassley’s Senate term does not expire until 2028, but Durbin’s expires in December 2026. Durbin has announced that he will not seek reelection.

Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Durbin, Grassley Introduce Criminal Justice Reform Bills (December 16, 2025)

First Act Implementation Act of 2025 (S. —) (submitted December 16, 2025)

Safer Detention Act (S. —) (submitted December 16, 2025)

Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2025 (S. —), (submitted December 16, 2025)

~ Thomas  L. Root