First Step Act

First Step Act
Long title	Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act
Acronyms (colloquial)	First Step Act
Enacted by	the 115th United States Congress
Effective	December 21, 2018
Citations
Public law	115-391
Legislative history
	Introduced in the Senate as S. 756 by Dan Sullivan (R–AK) on March 29, 2017; Committee consideration by Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Passed the Senate on August 3, 2017 (Unanimous consent); Passed the House of Representatives on July 25, 2018 (Voice Vote) with amendment; Senate agreed to House of Representatives amendment on December 18, 2018 (Yeas: 87; Nays: 12) with further amendment; House of Representatives agreed to Senate amendment on December 20, 2018 (Yeas: 358; Nays: 36); Signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 21, 2018;
United States Supreme Court cases
	Terry v. United States, No. 20-5904, 593 U.S. ___ (2021); Concepcion v. United States, No. 20-1650, 597 U.S. ___ (2022); Pulsifer v. United States, No. 22-340, 601 U.S. ___ (2024); Hewitt v. United States, No. 23-1002, 604 U.S. ___ (2025);

The First Step Act, formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th U.S. Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in December 2018. The act enacted several changes in U.S. federal criminal law aimed at reforming federal prisons and sentencing laws in order to reduce recidivism, decreasing the federal inmate population, and maintaining public safety.^[1]

^ "The First Step Act of 2018: An Overview" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. March 4, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

[1] "The First Step Act of 2018: An Overview" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. March 4, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

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