A criminal justice bill is proposed legislation that changes how crimes are defined, investigated, prosecuted, sentenced, or punished, or how people are managed inside the corrections system. The phrase covers everything from sweeping federal packages that touch policing, sentencing, and prisons at once to narrow state measures on a single issue like record sealing. In the United Kingdom, “Criminal Justice Bill” is also the formal name of a specific Home Office bill. What follows is a plain-English tour of the criminal justice bills that matter most right now: the two federal laws that anchor the American debate, the bills moving through Congress today, the state laws where most reform is actually happening, and the UK legislation that shares the name.
The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
The reference point for any conversation about a federal criminal justice bill is the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, signed by President Bill Clinton. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jack Brooks of Texas introduced it in October 1993, and the House passed it 235 to 195 in August 1994.1U.S. House of Representatives. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
Its major provisions included a “three strikes” mandate requiring life imprisonment for a third violent felony conviction, a ban on 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons, the creation of the Violence Against Women Act, and the authorization of the death penalty for dozens of new federal crimes. It funded 100,000 new police officers and established the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.2Office of Justice Programs. 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act The Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-in-Sentencing Incentive Grants Program allocated $12.5 billion to states that adopted laws scaling back parole and expanding prison capacity.3Brennan Center for Justice. The 1994 Crime Bill and Beyondp>
The law is widely viewed as a major driver of mass incarceration. The number of state and federal correctional facilities rose 43 percent between 1990 and 2005, with a new prison opening roughly every 15 days during parts of the 1990s.3Brennan Center for Justice. The 1994 Crime Bill and Beyond Incarceration rates kept climbing for 14 years after passage, peaking in 2008.4ACLU. How the 1994 Crime Bill Fed the Mass Incarceration Crisis
Critics have emphasized racial impact. Of defendants recommended for the death penalty in the five years after the Federal Death Penalty Act’s 60 new capital offenses took effect, 74 percent came from communities of color. By 2016, 78.5 percent of people serving federal life sentences were people of color. The law also eliminated Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals and allowed children as young as 13 to be charged as adults.5Center for American Progress. 3 Ways the 1994 Crime Bill Continues to Hurt Communities of Color Legislative proposals such as the Reverse Mass Incarceration Act have sought to undo the funding incentives by rewarding states that reduce imprisonment.3Brennan Center for Justice. The 1994 Crime Bill and Beyond
The First Step Act of 2018
The most significant federal criminal justice reform since 1994 came from the opposite direction. The First Step Act, signed on December 21, 2018, was a bipartisan measure aimed at reducing federal sentences and improving conditions inside federal prisons.6Federal Bureau of Prisons. First Step Act Overview
What It Changed on Sentencing
The law modified mandatory minimum penalties for certain drug trafficking offenses. It reduced the 20-year mandatory minimum for offenders with one prior qualifying conviction to 15 years and lowered the life-in-prison mandatory minimum for those with two or more priors to 25 years. It expanded the “safety valve” that allows courts to sentence low-level, nonviolent drug offenders below mandatory minimums. It also made the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 retroactive, letting people serving sentences for crack cocaine offenses under the older, harsher ratios petition for reductions.6Federal Bureau of Prisons. First Step Act Overview
Earned Time and Programming
The Act changed how good-time credit is calculated, allowing inmates to earn up to 54 days per year of the sentence imposed rather than per year served. Eligible inmates can also earn additional credits toward prerelease custody by participating in evidence-based recidivism reduction programs. People convicted of violent crimes, terrorism, sex offenses, and high-level drug trafficking are generally ineligible for these credits. The law mandated a risk and needs assessment system, developed as the PATTERN tool, to guide programming based on each person’s substance use, mental health, education, and other individual factors.7U.S. Sentencing Commission. First Step Act Earned Time Credits
Conditions Inside Federal Prisons
The First Step Act required the Bureau of Prisons to house inmates within 500 driving miles of their primary residence, prohibited the use of restraints on pregnant inmates, required free feminine hygiene products, banned solitary confinement for juvenile delinquents, and mandated de-escalation training for staff.6Federal Bureau of Prisons. First Step Act Overview
Implementation Is Still Incomplete
A January 2026 Government Accountability Office report found that the Bureau of Prisons completed initial risk assessments within the required 28-day window for only about 75 percent of the roughly 57,900 people who entered federal facilities between June 2022 and March 2024. On-time completion rates for needs assessments ranged from 69 to 95 percent depending on the type.8GAO. Federal Prisons: Improvements Needed to the System Used to Assess and Mitigate Incarcerated People’s Recidivism Risk The GAO also found that inaccurate program participation data prevented the BOP from determining whether its programming met inmates’ needs, and that earned time credits had not been consistently applied toward prerelease custody like home confinement or halfway houses. Nearly 45 percent of people leaving federal prison are rearrested or returned to custody within three years.9Federal News Network. System Meant to Reduce Prison Recidivism Marred by Management Struggles
The PATTERN tool has drawn criticism for racial bias. A 2021 review found that it overpredicted recidivism risk for Black, Hispanic, and Asian men and women on some measures while underpredicting violent recidivism risk for Black men and women and Native American men on others.10National Institute of Justice. Predicting Recidivism: Continuing to Improve the Bureau of Prisons Risk Assessment Tool A civil rights coalition led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights called on the DOJ to suspend the tool until the problems were resolved.11The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Comment Letter to Department of Justice on PATTERN
Federal Criminal Justice Bills Now Pending
Several bills in the 119th Congress (2025–2026) aim to build on the First Step Act or fill gaps it left. On December 16, 2025, Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley introduced four:12U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Durbin, Grassley Introduce Criminal Justice Reform Bills
- The First Step Implementation Act of 2025 would allow retroactive application of the First Step Act’s sentencing reforms to sentences imposed before 2018, broaden the safety valve for nonviolent drug offenses, permit sentence reductions for juvenile offenders who have served over 20 years, and provide for sealing or expunging nonviolent juvenile records.
- The Safer Detention Act of 2025 would reform the elderly home detention pilot program, expand eligibility to nonviolent offenders who have served at least 50 percent of their terms, and make elderly home detention decisions subject to judicial review.
- The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2025 would bar federal judges from increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant was acquitted, a practice that has drawn endorsements to end it from groups as ideologically distant as the ACLU and CPAC.
- The FSA Reporting Extension Act would extend the Attorney General’s annual reporting obligation to Congress by five years. The original reporting requirement expired in 2025, and the GAO has separately recommended the extension.13GAO. Federal Prisons: Improvements Needed
All four bills were at the introduction stage as of their announcement. The EQUAL Act, which would fully eliminate the remaining 18-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, has been reintroduced across multiple congresses. It passed the House 361 to 66 in 2021 but stalled in the Senate and has never been enacted.14Senator Cory Booker. Booker, Durbin, Armstrong, Jeffries Announce Re-Introduction of EQUAL Act
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would reform qualified immunity, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in federal drug cases, and change the legal standard for use of force from “reasonable” to “necessary,” was reintroduced in the Senate in August 2024 and in the House as H.R. 5361 in the 119th Congress.15Senator Cory Booker. Booker, Durbin, Warnock Announce Reintroduction of George Floyd Justice in Policing Act Previous versions passed the House but failed in the Senate.
Federal Direction Under the Current Administration
The prospects for any of those bills depend heavily on the federal environment. On his first day of his second term, President Trump revoked Biden-era executive orders on policing reform and on eliminating privately operated federal detention facilities.16White House. Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions The administration has cut over $500 million in Justice Department grants that funded local law enforcement, police training, victim services, and community violence interruption programs. Approximately 75 percent of Civil Rights Division lawyers departed by August 2025, and the division has shifted its focus from investigating police departments to pursuing cases against diversity mandates. The administration designated fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” by executive order in December 2025 and has encouraged states to file charges against prisoners whose federal death sentences President Biden commuted.17The Marshall Project. ICE, Trump: First Year Justice
State Criminal Justice Bills Are Where the Action Is
Most current criminal justice legislation is happening in state capitols. Between 2021 and 2025, states passed 654 criminal justice reform laws. In 2025, 35 states passed at least one reform law, up from 32 in 2024. Over that period, 28 Republican-leaning states passed reforms, compared to 20 Democratic-leaning states. About 62 percent of 2025 state reforms addressed “back-end” issues like reentry, supervision, and conditions of confinement.18Just Security. Criminal Justice Reform Didn’t End, It Decentralized
Sentencing
Georgia’s Survivor Justice Act (HB 582), signed by Governor Brian Kemp on May 12, 2025, allows courts to depart from mandatory minimums when a history of abuse was a “significant contributing factor” in the offense, reduces maximum sentences by 50 percent in such cases, and lets currently incarcerated survivors seek resentencing.19Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Georgia Survivor Justice Act20Georgia Justice Project. Survivor Justice Act One-Page Summary
Arizona and Virginia both eliminated the sentencing distinction between crack and powder cocaine in 2025. Maryland created a “second look” policy letting people who committed offenses between ages 18 and 25 petition for sentence reconsideration after 20 years, and expanded medical and geriatric parole for those 65 and older who have served at least 20 years.21The Sentencing Project. Top Trends in Criminal Legal Reform 2025
On March 26, 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in Commonwealth v. Lee that mandatory life without parole for felony murder, imposed without any assessment of individual culpability, violates the state constitution’s prohibition on cruel punishments. The court stayed its ruling for 120 days to allow the legislature to craft a remedy. The decision could affect approximately 1,000 people currently serving life sentences for felony murder in the state.22Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth v. Lee, No. 3 WAP 202423The Legal Intelligencer. A New Chapter for Pennsylvania: Automatic Life Sentences for Felony Murder Ruled Unconstitutional
Record Sealing and Voting
Illinois passed the Clean Slate Act (HB 1836) during its November 2025 veto session, creating an automatic record-sealing system expected to begin operating in 2029. It covers most misdemeanors and nonviolent felony convictions, with waiting periods of two years for misdemeanors and three years after a felony sentence is completed. Offenses involving sexual violence against minors, DUI, reckless driving, and cruelty to animals are excluded. About 2.2 million people are estimated to be eligible.24Capitol News Illinois. Clean Slate Act Passes After Failing to Clear Legislature in Past Years25Illinois Legal Aid. What You Need to Know About the Clean Slate Act Washington state created a pathway for automatic voter registration in prisons and county jails in 2025, and Colorado prohibited local jurisdictions from imposing unnecessary burdens on incarcerated voters.21The Sentencing Project. Top Trends in Criminal Legal Reform 2025
The UK Criminal Justice Bill
In the United Kingdom, “Criminal Justice Bill” is a proper name. The Criminal Justice Bill 2023–24, introduced to the House of Commons on November 14, 2023, by the Home Office, was a broad package that proposed expanding police search powers, increasing sentences for violent and sexual crimes, creating new offenses for items like SIM farms and 3D-printed firearm templates, and introducing a framework for addressing nuisance begging and rough sleeping.26UK Parliament — House of Commons Library. Criminal Justice Bill 2023-24
Notable clauses empowered Crown Court judges to compel defendants to attend sentencing hearings, with a two-year custodial penalty for unjustified non-attendance, and allowed the transfer of prisoners from English and Welsh prisons to foreign-rented facilities. The bill would have made the end of a relationship an aggravating factor in murder cases and grooming an aggravating factor in child sex offenses.27UK Parliament. Criminal Justice Bill 2023-24
The bill never became law. When Parliament was dissolved on May 30, 2024, for the July general election, it had not completed its report stage and was lost.28UK Parliament. Criminal Justice Bill The new Labour government introduced its successor, the Crime and Policing Bill 2024–26, which carried over several provisions in amended form. That bill received Royal Assent on April 29, 2026, becoming the Crime and Policing Act 2026.29UK Parliament. Crime and Policing Act 2026 It covers anti-social behaviour, offensive weapons, sexual offenses, criminal exploitation, police powers, and corporate criminal liability, among other areas. During its committee stage, provisions were added on age verification for knife sales, a new offense of causing death by dangerous cycling, and youth diversion orders for counter-terrorism risk management.30UK Parliament — House of Commons Library. Crime and Policing Bill 2024-26
The Picture in Short
The national incarceration rate in the United States dropped 31 percent between 2010 and 2020 before ticking back up 4.6 percent in 2021–2023. Roughly 1.9 million people remain incarcerated in the country, a rate three to eight times higher than other wealthy democracies.18Just Security. Criminal Justice Reform Didn’t End, It Decentralized The First Step Act remains the high-water mark for federal bipartisan reform, but its implementation is incomplete, its oversight mechanisms are expiring, and the current federal administration has moved in a punitive direction. Meanwhile, conservative and liberal states alike keep passing bills on sentencing, reentry, and record clearance. If you want to know what a criminal justice bill looks like in 2026, most of the answer is in state legislatures.