The safety valve is a provision in the

Sentencing Reform Act The Sentencing Reform Act, part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, was a U.S. federal statute intended to increase consistency in United States federal sentencing. It established the United States Sentencing Commission. It also abol ...

and the

United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines The United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines are rules published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that set out a uniform policy for sentencing individuals and organizations convicted of felonies and serious (Class A) misdemeanors in the Unite ...

that authorizes a sentence below the statutory minimum for certain nonviolent, non-managerial drug offenders with little or no criminal history. A Senate version of the

First Step Act The First Step Act, formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th U.S. Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in ...

was signed into law in December 2018, which expanded the safety valve to include offenders with up to four criminal history points, excluding 1-point offenses, such as minor misdemeanors.

References

United States sentencing law United States federal criminal legislation {{US-law-stub