Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has tried to position himself to the right of former President Donald Trump on a number of issues as they compete for the 2024 presidential nomination — particularly crime.
DeSantis has gone after one of the former president's only major bipartisan accomplishments, a criminal justice reform bill known as the FIRST STEP Act, calling it a "jailbreak bill" that lets violent criminals go free.
There's just one problem, reported CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck: DeSantis, then a congressman, voted for an almost identical version of the bill in 2018.
"A CNN KFile review of DeSantis’ comments as a congressman and governor also found that he once supported early release for some prisoners and said he was open to easing mandatory minimum guidelines — provisions in the First Step Act, the prison reform bill, he now says he would repeal," said the report.
One particular quote from DeSantis about the First Step Act at a 2019 news conference really stands out, notes the report.
"At the end of the day, I want to keep the public safe," DeSantis said at the time. "I want to hold people accountable. But I also recognize that there are, you know, some instances in which, you know, folks have paid their debt and we are probably wasting money if they’re not a threat to society and so we’re gonna look at all that."
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The FIRST STEP Act, championed by Trump and passed with the support of both parties, contained several provisions that modestly reform the treatment and release of federal prisoners; most prominently, it expands the use of time credits for good behavior, allowing some prisoners who engage in rehabilitation programs and other positive actions to earn early, supervised release or transfer to a halfway house.
Faced with criticism, DeSantis is claiming that the bill Trump signed is more lenient than the bill he voted for — but in fact, the opposite is true.
"DeSantis and his campaign have pointed to the release of a convicted terrorist financier who was freed due to the compassionate release provisions in the law – despite the fact these same provisions were in the bill DeSantis voted for," said the report. "They’ve also attacked 'good time credit' ... even though the House bill DeSantis voted for allowed significantly more people to receive earned and good time credits than the Senate version that became law, which included a much more robust list of excluded offenses."
In reality, the FIRST STEP Act has been a resounding success; data from the Justice Department shows that just 12.4 percent of inmates given early release under this system went on to commit another crime, compared to a 49.3 percent average for all federal prisoners.
However, in recent years, Republican voters and politicians have led a backlash against criminal justice reforms, including many they previously supported. Reform of cash bail, another successful program leaders in both parties used to support, has similarly become a culture war flashpoint based on entirely false claims that bail reform in New York increased crime.
