DPI Staff Quoted in Marshall Project on First Step Act

June 18, 2019–“Both liberals and conservatives harbored concerns about the First Step Act’s impact on non-citizens, but from different perspectives, said Joseph Luppino-Esposito, director of the Rule of Law Initiatives for the bipartisan Due Process Institute, who had lobbied Republicans in support of the act. Liberals were worried the law would be too harsh, while conservatives worried non-citizens with drug convictions would be set free. But changing policies toward non-citizens proved too loaded an issue to tackle in this bill, he said. “’These people did go through the (criminal justice) process, and this is sort of the accepted process,’ he said. ‘Whether or not you agree with the status quo is another issue.’”