2025 Update
In May 2020, the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Federal Priorities unveiled a roadmap for federal action on criminal justice policy changes, detailing 15 evidence-based priorities to advance the twin goals of safety and justice. Below is a snapshot of where each recommendation stands as of September 2025:
Current Status:
After nearly eight years without a quorum of voting members, a full slate of seven commissioners was appointed in August 2022, restoring the Commission’s ability to convene and vote. The new commission members face a backlog of cases, stalled policy reforms, and unaddressed initiatives, including full implementation of the 2018 First Step Act. In 2024, the Commission launched two interactive resources providing an overview of federal prison programs including First Step Act Earned Time Credits. Later that year, the Commission invited public comment on Commission priorities. With a renewed capacity to convene and vote on sentencing matters, the Commission has regained the ability to fulfill its mission of providing guidance to the federal courts that enhances the fairness, consistency, and proportionality of criminal sentences.
Current Status:
There is no Congressional legislation currently under consideration that would mitigate or eliminate mandatory minimums for drug crimes. On July 16, 2025, the President signed the HALT Fentanyl Act, reclassifying fentanyl-related substances under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and lowering the threshold to trigger a mandatory minimum.
The compassionate release provision of the First Step Act allows individuals, including those serving sentences imposed under mandatory minimums, to file a motion for release. The number of motions adjudicated under this provision decreased from 582 in October 2021 to 198 in March 2025. According to a recent Sentencing Commission report, 3,015 motions were filed in 2024, 16% of which were granted. People sentenced for drug trafficking crimes comprised the largest category of petitioners, making up 55% of approved motions and 51.3% of denied motions.
Current Status:
The U.S. Sentencing Commission has yet to comprehensively review the criminal code to identify unnecessary and duplicative laws, but a bill pending in Congress would initiate that process. The Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) in March 2025, would direct the U.S. Attorney General to produce a list of all criminal statutory and regulatory offenses. In 2021 and 2024, bills by the same name failed to reach a vote.
Additionally, the End Endless Criminal Statutes Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) in January 2025, would repeal certain federal criminal offenses deemed unnecessary, including writing a check for less than $1, removing postage stamps, and discarding produce without sufficient cause.
On May 9, 2025, President Trump signed Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations, an executive order that requires federal agencies to create and publicly disclose a list of all criminal offenses and their corresponding penalties enforced by that agency. This increased transparency may prompt further review of the criminal code.
Current Status:
In April 2024, the U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously voted to amend federal sentencing guidelines to prohibit acquitted conduct sentencing, effective November 2024. This change came less than a year after the Supreme Court urged the Commission to reevaluate the use of acquitted conduct in McClinton v. United States.
Current Status:
No states have been granted a waiver to resolve the clash between state laws and the federal prohibition of cannabis. Congressional legislation to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, ending the need for waivers, failed in 2020, 2022, and 2024. In July 2024, the U.S. Attorney General proposed reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance, a change that would lessen federal criminal penalties but would not resolve the clash between state and federal law.
Legislation pending in Congress would help resolve this issue. The STATES 2.0 Act, introduced by Rep. David Joyce (R-OH-14) in April 2025, would amend the Controlled Substances Act to give states primary regulatory control over marijuana. The PREPARE Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. David Joyce (R-OH-14) in April 2025, would establish a Commission on the Federal Regulation of Cannabis to create a pathway for the federal regulation of cannabis.
Current Status:
There has been a flurry of federal action to reduce violence. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BCSA), enacted in June 2022, authorized $1.4 billion in funding over five years for new and existing violence reduction programs, including $200 million for Office of Justice Programs STOP School Violence grants and $100 million for school violence prevention programs under the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. That same year, the Justice Department launched the Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, funded through a combination of annual appropriations and dollars authorized by BSCA. By early 2025, the initiative had awarded approximately $300 million in grants to support evidence-informed violence intervention strategies and related research and evaluations. In April 2025, the Trump administration terminated roughly half of those dollars as part of sweeping cuts to grants from the Office of Justice Programs.
Current Status:
Since its adoption in 2021, the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act has resulted in over $1.4 billion in additional deposits into the Crime Victims Fund (CVF), bolstering the capacity of service organizations to address the immediate and long-term needs of crime victims. However, the CVF is still experiencing funding shortfalls and decreasing deposits. In February 2025, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, originally introduced in 2024, was reintroduced to temporarily provide additional deposits into the CVF.
Current Status:
President Biden signed the Federal Prison Oversight Act into law in July 2024. The bipartisan legislation establishes independent oversight of the BOP by mandating routine inspections and establishing an Ombudsman to investigate accusations of misconduct and health and safety violations. The Federal Prison Oversight Act has not been fully funded or implemented.
Current Status:
The FAFSA Simplification Act of 2020 took effect in July 2023, restoring eligibility for Pell Grants to approximately 760,000 incarcerated students enrolled in approved prison education programs nationwide. Sentence-reduction credits for educational programming continue to vary by state. The PREP Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4) would have created an office within the Bureau of Prisons to improve the accessibility and quality of these programs, but the bill failed to reach a vote. There remain no federal oversight or quality assurance measures of prison education programs.
Current Status:
There is currently no process allowing people serving federal sentences to petition the court to reexamine their sentences. The Second Look Act of 2024, introduced in the House and the Senate in November, did not make it out of committee, and a similar bill has not been introduced this session.
Current Status:
There is currently no pathway for individuals convicted of federal sentences to have their records sealed. The Clean Slate Act of 2025, introduced by Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) in May 2025, would initiate this process, allowing individuals who have completed sentences for nonviolent and marijuana-related federal offenses to have their records sealed automatically or through a formal petition process. Individuals convicted of sex crimes, terrorism, and other violent crimes would not be eligible.
Current Status:
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (often called “the Crime Bill”) prohibits using federal funds for accountability court cases involving people convicted of violent crimes. The Treatment Court, Rehabilitation, and Recovery Act of 2025, introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in September 2025, would remove this prohibition, granting states discretion in program admission and focusing court admission on high-risk populations. Similar legislation by the same name failed to reach a vote in 2021 and 2023.
Current Status:
The American Rescue Plan, signed into law by President Biden in March 2021, awarded nearly 70,000 emergency housing vouchers to public housing authorities nationwide, which formerly incarcerated people are eligible for under a May 2021 memo from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. While 87% of emergency housing vouchers were leased or issued within the first year, there is no data on the impact on people with criminal convictions, and a widespread lack of affordable housing remains a crucial barrier to safe housing for people reentering society.
Several bills currently pending in Congress would boost the development of affordable housing nationwide, including the Build More Housing Near Transit Act, the Housing Supply Frameworks Act, and the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act.
Current Status:
An omnibus bill signed in January 2023 expanded access to treatment for people with substance use disorders by eliminating the federal waiver requirement for physicians to prescribe buprenorphine. This addresses a significant barrier to care, as many people with substance use disorders were previously unable to receive medication due to a shortage of nearby physicians with federal waivers.
Institutions for Mental Disease are still barred from receiving federal Medicaid funds, limiting treatment access for people affected by substance use disorder and mental health issues. However, states are still able to apply for waivers to give their Medicaid programs flexibility in expanding access to SUD treatment. As of September 2025, the administration has approved 67 waivers across 47 states and 33 are pending.
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (often called the “Big Beautiful Bill”) into law, reducing federal Medicaid spending by approximately $1 trillion and adding employment requirements for Medicaid enrollees 19 years or older. These changes will likely affect the ability of individuals to receive coverage after being released from prison.
Current Status:
In April 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued groundbreaking guidance that gives states the ability to use Medicaid to provide pre-release physical and mental health services for incarcerated people up to 90 days before their release. As of September 2025, CMS has approved reentry waivers in 19 states and 8 states and Washington D.C. have pending waivers. The future of these waivers remains uncertain following the aforementioned reductions in Medicaid spending under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.