Aide: Bill Clinton favors criminal justice law
The new federal criminal justice and sentencing law was backed by former President Bill Clinton, even though it rolls back some of the tougher Clinton-era federal penalties.
"President Clinton believes this bipartisan effort is an important first step," his spokesman Angel Urena said in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Saturday morning.
The First Step Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday, overhauls the federal system. Federal prisons currently house 180,843 offenders. Overall, there were roughly 2.16 million people locked up on the state, local and federal level as of Dec. 31, 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bruce Reed, who served as Clinton's chief domestic policy adviser, said passage of the First Step Act is "a good thing," for America.
Read more: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/dec/23/aide-clinton-favors-criminal-justice-la/