Congress May Tackle Criminal Reform… And That’s Probably Not Good – Update for September 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.

I’VE GOT YOUR GOOD NEWS AND YOUR BAD NEWS

It’s been seven long years since President Trump championed his last crime bill, the First Step Act, through Congress. Although the measure was far from perfect, it represented the biggest advance in sentencing, rehabilitation, and crime reduction in 25 years.

Now, Trump and congressional Republicans are at it again, “actively discussing a sweeping crime bill that would go far beyond their recent forays into DC’s criminal justice system,” Semafor reported last week.

The plans remained ill-formed but are serious, intended to let the Republicans keep the momentum going on a politically advantageous issue.

That’s all good news, but the bad news is that what comes out is unlikely to be a “Second Step Act.” Instead, imagine an extension of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

A sense of what’s to come showed up last week, when the House of Representatives passed two bills targeted at DC.  The first, the D.C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act, or DC CRIMES Act, which would prohibit DC local officials from changing sentencing laws and restrict the ability of local judges to be more lenient with younger criminals. The second, H.R. 5140, lowers the age at which youthful offenders can be tried as adults for some violent offenses to 14.

The DC CRIMES Act passed the House 240-179, while H.R. 5140 passed 225-203.

That may just be a start, as Congressional Republicans trip over themselves to support Trump’s belief that DC is overrun with crime. Last week, Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced S. 2815 to repeal DC’s Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act and Second Chance Amendment Act, which the Sentencing Project told legislators last week “ignore decades of evidence proving extreme punishments do not make us safer.”  Instead, the bill –  which would require a mandatory life sentence for 1^st degree murder – would “not improve safety, but it will have two very predictable impacts. It will increase the burden on the already critically-strained Federal Bureau of Prisons, which houses most individuals convicted of DC Code offenses, and it will increase racial disparities.”

After all of this, there is no reasonable belief that a federal criminal code revision will be anything short of Draconian. Example? Take H.R. 3486, now pending in the House, that would require a mandatory minimum 5-year sentence for an immigrant who illegally re-enters the US after being convicted of a felony and deported. The government has known for a decade that longer sentences do not deter crime. But what matters is symbolism: mandatory minimums look tough on paper, and legislators don’t lose elections by looking too tough.

But steering a sweeping piece of anti-crime legislation through Congress during an election year won’t be easy. Semafor said, “It would require close coordination between Congress and the White House to unite a Republican Party with disparate views of criminal justice that could easily fracture over the issue, not to mention work to win the Senate Democratic support such a bill would need.”

Congressional failure to legislate may be the best chance federal prisoners have, which is simply to hold on to the imperfect system already in place.

Semafor, Republicans eye a crime bill for Trump, and for the midterms (September 17, 2025)

Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act of 2025 (H.R. 4922)

Bill to lower the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult in DC to 14 years of age (H.R. 5140)

The Hill, House passes 2 bills overhauling DC sentencing policies (September 16, 2025)

The Sentencing Project, Letter to Rep James Comer (September 15, 2025)

Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025 (H.R. 3486)

~ Thomas L. Root