---
title: "Publication of the First Step Act Risk and Needs Assessment System"
citation: "U.S. Department of Justice PATTERN publication record (July 19, 2019)"
authority_id: "AUTH-DOJ-PATTERN-2019-RELEASE"
authority_type: "policy"
jurisdiction: "federal_nationwide"
precedential_status: "nonprecedential_official_record"
official_url: "https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/department-justice-announces-release-3100-inmates-under-first-step-act-publishes-risk-and"
url: "https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/authorities/AUTH-DOJ-PATTERN-2019-RELEASE/"
legal_review: "2026-08-24"
links_checked: "2026-10-15"
links_available: 1
links_checked_count: 1
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# DOJ publication of PATTERN on July 19, 2019

## Proposition supported

DOJ publicly released the initial risk-and-needs assessment system, PATTERN, on July 19, 2019 and identified the publication as satisfying the First Step Act's statutory deadline.

## Material limitation

This record establishes publication and implementation history, not the validity of an individual PATTERN score or the later time-credit regulation.

## Official sources

- DOJ release: <https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/department-justice-announces-release-3100-inmates-under-first-step-act-publishes-risk-and>
- DOJ/NIJ implementation remarks: <https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/speech/national-institute-justice-director-david-muhlhausen-delivers-remarks-first-step-act>
- Initial report: <https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/docs/the-first-step-act-of-2018-risk-and-needs-assessment-system.pdf>


## Used in

- [18 U.S.C. § 3632 — First Step Act Time Credits](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/80-sentence-execution-and-bop/first-step-act-time-credits.md)