Bipartisan sentencing overhaul moves forward, but rests on Trump

A bipartisan group of senators has reached a deal to rewrite the nation’s sentencing and prison laws for the first time in a generation, giving judges more latitude to sidestep mandatory minimum sentences and easing drug sentences that have incarcerated African-Americans at much higher rates than white offenders.

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The lawmakers believe they can get the measure to President Trump during the final weeks of the year if the president embraces it.

The compromise would eliminate the so-called stacking regulation that makes it a federal crime to possess a firearm while committing another crime, like a drug offense; expand the “drug safety valve” allowing judges to sidestep mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders; and shorten mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, according to draft text of the bill obtained by The New York Times.

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