Second Chances Resource Library

This brief explains how the First Step Act’s compassionate release reform and the absence of a quorum at the U.S. Sentencing Commission made it possible for judges to decide what factors constitute “compelling and extraordinary circumstances” for purposes of granting compassionate relief. Hundreds of people serving extreme sentences have been granted early release as a result – six of whom are profiled in this issue brief – but this discretion could disappear if the U.S. Sentencing Commission doesn’t incorporate the First Step Act reforms the right way when they reconvene.