There’s no doubt about it: President Donald Trump’s focus on public safety has been successful.
His down-to-earth stand for law and order has boosted his approval ratings and made fighting crime his forte. More than half the country supports his approach. Americans are tired of the lawlessness that Democrats are allowing to fester in our cities and are relieved to see someone fighting against anarchy.
In addition to getting criminals off the streets, the Trump administration must also make sure we have a place to house them – and manpower to keep an eye on them. This means tackling the bloated federal criminal justice bureaucracy that spends far too many resources on the wrong people.
Instead of focusing on violent threats, the existing system wastes energy, manpower and money by targeting low-risk people who pose no threat to anyone. If we take crime seriously, we need to be tough on the front lines and smart on the back end. This means using our law enforcement resources to keep Americans safe, reduce bloat, and provide ways to guarantee second chances for those who deserve them.
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The proposed Safer Supervision Act could help solve some of the prison bureaucracy and leave prisons to those who deserve them. (iStock)
Trump made great strides in improving our prison system during his first term with the passage of the First Step Act. It reduced overly harsh sentences for thousands of low-risk, nonviolent prisoners. It also increased educational and job training programs for prisoners who were serious about creating a better, law-abiding life for themselves after their release. Recidivism fell from more than 50% to less than 10%. This means that fewer people who left prison committed new crimes and instead began to rebuild their lives.
The First Step Act was just that: a first step. Much work remains to be done to ensure that dangerous criminals are caught and brought to justice – and that nonviolent people can become productive, law-abiding members of society. This is where the Safer Supervision Act comes into play.
The current federal oversight system is flawed. Specifically, federal post-prison supervision, known as supervised release, has become a costly, counterproductive bureaucracy. Originally intended for high-risk cases, it is now imposed in almost all cases. Federal probation officials report they are buried under a caseload of more than 100 people. This makes it impossible to focus on truly dangerous individuals. Furthermore, this one-size-fits-all system creates unnecessary roadblocks for nonviolent people trying to keep their jobs and reenter society.
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Picture this: a man misses his bus and is late for a mandatory meeting. Instead of tracking violent threats all day, a federal probation officer spends hours processing a violation report on someone who poses no danger to anyone. Multiply that by hundreds of low-risk cases, and you start to see how a system designed to keep America safe does the exact opposite.
Trump is exactly the right leader to cut through the bureaucracy and overhaul the overused federal surveillance system — and the Safer Supervision Act offers a rational, common-sense solution. It ensures that scarce law enforcement resources are not wasted on paperwork while real threats roam free. It also returns federal oversight to its original purpose: focusing on the truly dangerous things.
The bill requires courts to make individualized assessments to determine whether supervision is necessary – and what rules and restrictions are needed to protect our communities from threats. Importantly, it creates a path for those who have proven themselves to move away from surveillance. This would free up officers to focus on the real bad guys.
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These reforms are modeled after successes in Republican-led states like Missouri, South Carolina and Arizona. And this approach was just validated by a landmark study published in August by the Iowa Department of Corrections. It was found that rewriting rigid probation rules into collaborative goals allowed individuals to work with their probation officers to achieve stability. This reduced the number of people sent back to prison by more than 25%. Most importantly, the study found that these changes led to a decrease in the number of new crimes.
Trump is exactly the right leader to cut through the bureaucracy and fix the overused federal surveillance system – and the Safer Supervision Act offers a rational, common-sense solution
This is why the Safer Surveillance Act has won the trust of those on the front lines. For example, the Major Cities Chiefs Association passed the bill because its members know it will keep our communities safe.
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Trump and the Republican Party have a great opportunity to make America safe again. The Safer Supervision Act is America First leadership in action. It would reduce crime, respect taxpayers, reward responsibility, and unleash one of the most overlooked solutions to our workforce crisis: supervised Americans who want to work but are held back by an overly restrictive system.
Americans deserve safe communities, accountable government, and second chances for those who deserve them. Passing the Safer Supervision Act will improve safety, grow the workforce, and strengthen families. It fits perfectly with President Trump’s vision of America’s golden age.
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