Meet Trump’s potential allies: Criminal reform advocates, who see potential in his second term

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned for the presidency in 2016 in part by portraying himself as an anti-crime figure who, if elected, would establish a national anti-crime program, crack down on immigration and bring “big, fast, “law and order.

His inflammatory rhetoric and messages about crime raised alarm bells among many Democrats and criminal justice advocates before his January 2017 inauguration.

“I am a law and order person,” he told voters, before adding, “I am also a compassionate person.”

But the second half of his remarks did little to allay fears that under Trump, the US will see indiscriminate attacks on criminals.

Jessica Jackson, a civil rights attorney and CEO of the criminal justice advocacy group REFORM Alliance, told Fox News Digital that she initially had some reservations.

“First of all, I’m a Democrat,” Jackson said in the interview. “So, working with President Trump back in 2018 was considered unusual.”

But Jackson did just that, invoking the First Action Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing the federal prison population by reducing disproportionate sentences, promoting rehabilitation and allowing some inmates the chance for early release.

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Jackson was part of a large group of police groups, religious leaders, prosecutors and celebrities lobbying on behalf of the First Step Act.

Their efforts were successful, and in December 2018 Trump signed the First Action Act into law.

The law has been widely credited with helping to reduce the number of federal prisons and, importantly, reducing recidivism rates—the rate at which formerly incarcerated people reoffend.

Jackson noted that the law has led to a reduction in recidivism “from about 49% to 9.7%”. A 2024 report from the Brennan Center for Justice estimates a slight, but still significant, reduction in the rate of 46.2% to 9.7% recidivism. among ex-prisoners assisted by the First Step Act.

“I think the biggest lesson I learned from the first administration is that if you engage with the administration, there are opportunities to make progress on the issues you care about,” Jackson said of working with Trump.

Now, he and other criminal justice advocates see more opportunities to work together in Trump’s second term.

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President Donald Trump hangs up after a call in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Washington. ((AP Photo/Alex Brandon))

One big opportunity Jackson sees for Trump is passing the Safeguards Act, a bipartisan law aimed at helping people who had been incarcerated return to their communities. Supporters see the bill as a way to build on the success of the 2018 legislation.

Ex-prisoners struggle to prepare for life after prison, and the Safeguards Act seeks to both help ex-prisoners’ job opportunities and reduce burdensome parole requirements and probation.

It looks set to address some of the biggest challenges they face, including a lack of infrastructure, a lack of employment and gaps in the federal parole and probation system, which itself is made up of understaffed and underfunded programs.

These barriers have sometimes landed ex-offenders in prison for seemingly innocent reasons—from missing a meeting with a parole officer to leaving the judicial district without permission or associating with ex-convicts or ex-offenders. criminal behavior. Sometimes, the ex-prisoner is not told exactly what the restrictions are.

Inmates wearing firefighting boots line up for breakfast in Yucaipa, California, November 6, 2014. (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

Jackson said his team once worked with an ex-convict who used public transportation to and from work, and ended up saving enough money to make a car payment.

Unfortunately, when he went to finance the car, he said, “It turns out that he didn’t know, he was buried in a list of stressful situations, he couldn’t open an account without talking to the manager..”

“So, here’s a guy who thinks he’s doing something good—getting a ride back and forth to work; taking his kids to school. And the next thing you know, he’s breaking his law and he’s getting kicked out,” Jackson said.

Overall, ex-convicts are prone to recidivism: A 2023 Justice Department analysis of 24 states found that 82% of parolees were rearrested at least once 10 years after their release. (A significant 43% were rearrested within one year.)

Jackson hopes that Trump will do well in his second term to expand these criminal justice reform programs—by passing the Safeguards Act and using other measures, such as second-chance hiring.

Asked if he had ever had discussions with members of the reform group, Jackson laughed. “It’s funny, because everybody keeps asking me like, ‘Have you talked to anybody over there?’

“We came together in an unexpected partnership, and we were able to really improve—we never stopped talking to them,” she said.

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“And I think we’re excited about the opportunity to continue those discussions and make progress where we can.”