Overview
The First Step Act (S. 756) is bipartisan criminal justice reform signed in December 2018. It expanded rehabilitation programming, adjusted certain sentencing provisions, and created reentry-focused measures. The full statute and actions are on Congress.gov.
Full article
The First Step Act is the major first-term criminal justice reform statute. Signed in December 2018, it combined sentencing reforms for certain federal offenses with expanded programming intended to reduce recidivism and support reentry.
Congress.gov preserves the Senate bill record (S. 756, 115th Congress), including the enrolled text. White House archive signing remarks provide contemporaneous administration framing without replacing the statute itself.
Because criminal justice provisions are highly technical, this page summarizes the public milestone and directs readers to the official legislative text for operative legal language.
Key points
- Signed into law in December 2018 (S. 756, 115th Congress).
- Bipartisan reform addressing sentencing and rehabilitation/reentry.
- Congress.gov hosts the authoritative bill text and actions.
- Often paired in first-term messaging with second-chance opportunity themes.
- Do not treat short summaries as a substitute for statutory text.
Official record
Congress.gov bill page for S. 756 is the linked official legislative source.
Source attribution: View original official record