FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 16, 2018

Washington, DC — Today prominent conservative leaders delivered a letter to President Trump encouraging continued action toward passage of the Formerly Incarcerated Re-enter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person (FIRST STEP) Act. If passed, the law would increase public safety, provide reentry programming to help reduce recidivism, and give those incarcerated a second chance once they have paid their debt to society. The legislation overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives in May with a vote of 360-59, and is awaiting consideration in the Senate.

The letter, organized by Right on Crime and signed by national conservative leaders and state legislators like former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Rep. J.C. Watts, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Media Research Center Founder Brent Bozell, and attorney Deborah Daniels, states in part:

“Mr. President, we are conservatives who strongly support the FIRST STEP Act because we believe it is vital to enhancing public safety and opportunity for offenders who want to turn their lives around. We encourage you to ask Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring this bill to the floor for an up or down vote.”

The letter also cites opinion polls documenting the widespread support the bill has among people of all political stripes and the effectiveness of similar reforms in “red states,” and the declining crime rate.

Right on Crime is a national campaign of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in partnership with the American Conservative Union Foundation and Prison Fellowship that supports conservative solutions for reducing crime, restoring victims, reforming offenders, and lowering taxpayer costs. The movement was born in Texas in 2005, and in recent years, dozens of states such as Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, have led the way in implementing conservative criminal justice reforms.

Right on Crime has the support and works to mobilize the voices of more than 90 prominent conservative leaders who have endorsed the principles of conservative criminal justice reform, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Concerned Women for America President Penny Nance, former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist.

 

To obtain a copy of the letter or to schedule an interview with Right on Crime spokespersons, please contact Kevin McVicker at (703) 739-5920 or [email protected]