Maryland lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that would allow sentence reviews for some people convicted of serious crimes when they were young, approving a slimmed-down version of legislation that has long been a priority for criminal justice reform advocates.

The Second Look Act would allow people who have served at least 20 years in prison for a crime that was committed when they were younger than 25 years old to petition for a reduced sentence. The bill originally would have allowed anyone who has served 20 years in prison to ask for a sentence reduction but was narrowed to include only young adults as it moved through the House of Delegates.

The amended version of the bill also excludes people who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, disappointing reform advocates.

“The exclusion of life without parole sentences is especially troubling and heartbreaking, given the well-documented racial disparities in sentencing,” said Yanet Amanuel, the director of public policy at the ACLU of Maryland.

The nonprofit Sentencing Project reports that 76% of people serving life sentences in Maryland prisons are Black, as are 82% of those serving life in prison for crimes committed before they turned 25. Black Marylanders make up around a third of the state’s population.

“The bill still represents a small but meaningful step toward addressing Maryland’s deep mass incarceration crisis,” Amanuel said.

Del. Cheryl Pasteur, who sponsored the bill in the House, said she was saddened that the bill is “smaller” than her original legislation.

“It’s not the same, but I listened to what everybody had to say and realized we would have just lost one more time if we said, ‘Okay, this is how we do it,‘” she said.

Pasteur, a Democrat from Baltimore County, said she was still processing her feelings after the passage of the bill, which prompted emotional debates on the House and Senate floors. She said she looks forward to keeping in touch with people who win release from prison under the new law so that they never feel alone.

And she said the bill’s passage does not mark the end of the legislative fight to win “second looks” for more people serving long sentences in Maryland prisons.

“I don’t know if I have the stamina to do it,” she said. “It’s not over. For somebody.”

The bill is similar to the Juvenile Restoration Act, which allowed people who served at least 20 years in prison for crimes committed before they turned 18 to ask for a sentence review. Now that group will include some people who were slightly older when they committed a crime.

Under the Second Look Act, judges could only reduce a sentence if they find the person is not a danger to the public and consider a list of other factors, including the nature of the crime, the person’s efforts at rehabilitation while in prison, and any statement offered by the victim or their representative. Sex offenders also are not eligible under the bill.

Republicans in the Senate managed to add another amendment that makes people convicted of killing a first responder or police officer ineligible for a sentence review.

The last-minute Senate amendment threatened to complicate the passage of the bill, but the House of Delegates ultimately agreed to the change. Delegates previously fought off repeated Republican attempts to narrow the law by adding more categories of crimes that would make people ineligible.

The bill inspired passionate testimony from people on both sides of the issue. Sen. Charles Sydnor, a Baltimore County Democrat who supported the bill, spoke about a cousin who was murdered in 1991. The perpetrator was never caught, he said.

His voice breaking, Sydnor said crime victims and their families are not a monolith.

“Within me, and I know, many in my family, if the perpetrators were caught and brought to justice, the justice is the sentence,” he said. “If those people, whoever committed those crimes, showed that they did what they needed to do to reenter society, I’d welcome them with open arms.”

The bill passed the Senate mostly along party lines. As they have in other debates over the bill, Republicans in the Senate this week proposed a series of amendments that would have added other categories of ineligible offenders, such as those convicted of killing children or parole officers.

The Senate rejected those two amendments but narrowly adopted a third, making people convicted of killing a police officer, first responder or correctional officer in the line of duty ineligible for sentence review under the Second Look Act.

Republicans argued that people convicted of certain heinous crimes — killing a child or a pregnant woman, for example — should not get reconsideration, and that crime victims and their families should not be forced to go to court again if they oppose a perpetrator’s release. The bill would allow incarcerated people to ask for reconsideration three times over a period of several years.

“People can change, but there’s still the need for justice, and at some point, for our victims, enough is enough,” said Sen. Justin Ready, the minority whip who represents parts of Carroll and Frederick counties.

The bill’s supporters have countered that judges get to decide whether to reduce a sentence and can choose not to grant the petition if the crime is too serious or if the person requesting a sentence reduction has not rehabilitated themselves adequately.

Sen. Arthur Ellis said the bill is a way to address Maryland’s “ugly past,” including racist and illegal police practices that landed some innocent people in prison decades ago.

“You have people in prison suffering who were caught up in this evil system,” said Ellis, a Democrat who represents Charles County.

“Not everybody is innocent, but there are some who are,” he said. “We need to take a second look and deal with our ugly past.”