Report: 'First Step Act' Frees Hundreds of Sex Offenders, Convicted Murderers

by JOHN BINDER
Breitbart
Jul. 27, 2019

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), one of the few elected Republicans who voted against the First Step Act, told Carlson that he did not believe the talking point from criminal justice reform advocates that the law would only allow non-violent, low-level offenders to be released from federal prison.

“I didn’t believe it,” Kennedy said. “And I didn’t believe it because I read the bill … [lawmakers] turned over all of [Congress’] power to the administrative state, to the bureaucracy at the Bureau of Prisons and they can pretty much let loose whomever they want to.”

“Not only is this not about releasing non-violent felons, the majority — according to these numbers — are there for crimes of violence,” Carlson said. “So it was a complete lie what they told us.”

Despite efforts by Kennedy and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) to add provisions to the First Step Act that ensures the victims of crimes are notified when a convict is released from federal prison, the majority of Senate Republicans and Democrats blocked those amendments.

“This bill was sold to America as only affecting low-level, non-violent criminals and that’s just not accurate,” Kennedy said.

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