However, Durbins office said the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.. As a result, drug sentences which are driven by the amount of drug involved in the crime soared. All of that would be great, but as Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor noted last week currently, six of the seven voting members seats are vacant. The Smarter Sentencing Act promotes the value of proportional punishment by addressing excessive sentences for those convicted of federal drug offenses. US Congress S1013 Summary Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 This bill reduces statutory mandatory minimum penalties for certain drug offenses, requires reporting on the impact of cost savings from the reductions, and establishes a public database of federal criminal offenses. An online version of this release can be found, Sen. Lee Cosponsors the Smarter Sentencing Act. Biden did issue an executive order canceling contracts with private prison operators, a nice change for the 14,000 people in those joints. The term 'courier' means a defendant whose role in the offense was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money.''. The Smarter Sentencing Act, an updated version of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2019 (which went nowhere), continues the mandatory minimum adjustments to 21 USC 841(b), the sentencing section of the drug trafficking statute begun by the First Step Act. The Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. The United States Sentencing Commission scheduled a vote of for April 10, 2014, to consider a reduction in the base level offense of certain drug convictions. In 2018, Republicans passed the pro-criminal, So what is real? Lee and Durbin first introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act in 2013. Home Blog News and Politics United States Senators Bring Forth Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, On March 25, 2021, Senators Durbin and several others introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. (iii)by striking "mandatory term of life imprisonment without release" and inserting "term of imprisonment of not less than 25 years"; and, (B)in the flush text following clause (viii) cutting mandatory minimums in 21 USC 960 for drug mules carrying drugs into the country courier in half. Republicans who oppose the bill would almost certainly want to force vulnerable Senate Democrats to take tough amendment votes amid reports of rising violent crime in major cities and the approaching November election. |work=Legislation Last week, Unfortunately, soft-on-crime policies have been, at times, a bipartisan problem. FAMM supports this bill. FAMM has supported past versions of the Smarter Sentencing Act. We love educating Americans about how their government works too! While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the Smarter Sentencing Act] got votes in Senate Judiciary Committee from the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. This essay is part of the Brennan Centers series examining the punitive excess that has come to define Americas criminal legal system. Yes, indeedy, the 2017 version of the bill is identical to old S.502, except for a boatload more sponsors (21 from both sides of the aisle). On the contrary, we suffer from an under-incarceration problem. The column called on Congress to end the jailbreak of slashed sentences and the broader civilizational suicide of the criminal justice reform., Politico, Criminal justice reform faces political buzzsaw as GOP hones its midterm message (April 14, 2022), Politico, Whats next for criminal justice reform? We hope to enable educators to build lesson plans centered around any bill or vote in Congress, even those as recent as yesterday. 3617) exactly none made it past the Senate during the two-year Congress that ends in a week. Ironically, this jailbreak bill even provided early release for those who helped prisoners break out of jail. Both parties and both chambers of Congress agreed to revisions to federal sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimums. So when will Congress get to any criminal justice reform measures? If anything, the EQUAL Acts failure was a bigger disappointment. Congressmen Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Raul Labrador (R-ID) introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act (H.R. The disparity has been diluted by Congress over the last decade the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act reformed the disparity to be 18 to 1 instead of 100 to 1, and the 2018 First Step Act made the . FAX: 410-934-3208. Citations available for content in Chicago, APA and MLA format. WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation that wouldmodernize federal drug sentencing polices by lowering certain mandatory drug sentences. It also provides a retroactivity provision for the court to impose a reduced sentence for those sentenced before this act gets signed after considering the 3553(a) factors (someone looking for retroactive application of this section would also have to prove that they are a courier). We called Sen. Lees office last week for a copy of the measure, and received our copy yesterday. EQUAL passed the House with bipartisan support and had what seemed to be a veto-proof majority of 50 Democrat supporters and 11 Republican Senate co-sponsors. The FSA is the law that reduces the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The MOREAct would have allowed cannabis companies to open bank accounts and would have retroactively permitted changes in pot-based sentences. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). Richard Durbin U.S. Senate 711 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Hon. Apr 25, 2023. That deeply flawed legislation reduced sentences for crack dealers and granted early release to some child predators, carjackers, gang members, and bank robbers. And we will start all over again, but with a much unfriendlier House of Representatives. The Smarter Sentencing Act, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, would take some of the sting out of federal drug sentencing. (i)by striking "5 years" and inserting "2 years"; and Meanwhile, Durbin said hes concerned about a Second Step Acts prospects for passage, particularly given Republican accusations during Jacksons confirmation hearings that the justice-in-waiting was soft on crime. This bill was introduced in the 117th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2021 to Jan 3, 2023. Tweets & replies Sentencing Reform: Smarter Sentencing Act @SentencingR SUPPORT PAGE FOR SENTENCING REFORM *TITLE S.1013-117th CONGRESS (2021-2022): SMARTER SENTENCING ACT 2021* Pennsylvania, USA Joined June 2021 0 Photos and videos Photos and videos Tweets TweetsTweets, current page. Given that commitment, Prez Biden should be a vocal supporter of this bill or should oppose it only because it does not go far enough because it merely seeks to reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses, rather than entirely eliminate them. from 10 years to 5 years for a low-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. Several of its provisions made it into theFirst Step Act, which was enacted into law in 2018, but the changes in mandatory minimums for most drug offenses would not. At the same time, Durbin and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced S.1014, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021. Importantly, the bill makes its changes retroactive, enabling people who now have mandatory minimum sentenceschanged by the bill to ask their judges for a sentence reduction. Moreover, the current chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee is Senator Durbin and the current President campaigned on a platform that included an express promise to work for the passage of legislation to repeal mandatory minimums at the federal level. A couple of bills before Congress would reduce but not eliminate mandatory minimums: the EQUAL Act (lowers minimums for crack to equal those of powder) has passed the House but hasnt yet cleared committee in the Senate; the MORE Act (decriminalizes marijuana retroactively) has been approved by a House committee but has not been passed by the House or Senate; the First Step Implementation Act (makes First Step mandatory minimum reductions retroactive) and the Smarter Sentencing Act (reduces mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses only) have not even cleared committee in either the House or Senate. ), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). from life to 25 years for a high-level offense after two or more prior felony drug offenses, from 5 years to 2 years for a first-time low-level offense (e.g., 100 to 999 grams of heroin), and. In fact, earlier this year,Garland reinstateda2010 Holder policythat incorporated along-standing directive to federal prosecutors: Where two crimes have the same statutory maximum and the same guideline range, but only one contains a mandatory minimum penalty, the one with the mandatory minimum should be charged. In October, the president pardoned thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana possession (although no one pardoned was in federal prison) and said his administration would review how the drug is categorized. <> S. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. Grassley was enraged, blasting the Garland memo as demanding that prosecutors ignore the text and spirit of federal statutes [and] undermining legislative efforts to address this sentencing disparity. And just like that, when the text of the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion spending bill was released, the watered-down EQUAL Act was nowhere to be found. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in TheFirst Step Actwas a critical move in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done to reform our criminal justice system. |author=117th Congress (2021) While the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the crack-cocaine disparity bill last year, it has yet to schedule a markup. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that some crack cocaine offenders sentenced to . And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. The Senate has to confirm at least three new members and none has yet been nominated by President Biden before the Commission can do anything. Additionally, the bill corrects a weird anomaly in the First Step Act that redefined prior drug cases for which a defendant can get an 851 enhancement (which increases the mandatory minimum where the defendant has certain prior drug convictions) to limit such priors to crimes punishable by more than 10 years for which the defendant was actually sentenced to more than a year. endobj SmarterSentencing would also create a new category of `courier for a defendant whose role was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money. 224 Dirksen Senate Office Building It detailed the costs associated with inmates serving life sentences and detailed the consideration for public safety should modifying the guidelines and reducing the sentences occur. Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 This bill reduces statutory mandatory minimum penalties for certain drug offenses, requires reporting on the impact of cost savings from the reductions, and establishes a public database of federal criminal offenses. The bill continued to gain momentum in the Senate and House. Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from GPO, the Government Publishing Office, a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Inflexible, harsh sentences exacerbate crime and racial disparities alike. (1)in section 102 (21 U.S.C. Reuters reported a week ago that Senate negotiators had reached a potential compromise. Reason, In 2021, Qualified Immunity Reform Died a Slow, Painful Death (December 30, 2021), Forbes, The Least Eventful Year for Marijuana (December 31, 2021), San Francisco Chronicle, Bidens agenda is stuck. Please sign up for our advisory group to be a part of making GovTrack a better tool for what you do. Sponsor. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that implementation of this provision would save taxpayers approximately $3 billion over ten years. Third, the Smarter Sentencing Act would reduce the aforementioned mandatory minimum sentencing levels from 5-10-20 years to 2-5-10 years, unless death or serious bodily injury resulted, in. Any judges looking for future promotions are going to think twice about letting violent criminals go or giving them a slap on the wrist, rather than following the law and imposing serious sentences for those who have committed serious crimes., [Editors note: While it is correct that Cruz has been described by one conservative columnist as being like a serpent covered in Vaseline who treats the American people like two-bit suckers in 10-gallon hats, some maintain that there are good snakes in Texas (but Sen. Cruz is not on their list). Lee and Durbin first introduced theSmarter Sentencing Actin 2013. The bill also refines a number of Sentencing Commission goals such as keeping down the prison population and ensuring that Guidelines dont have adverse racial impacts. establishes new, shorter mandatory minimum prison terms for a courier. The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. Copyright 2016-Present The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon. It also provides a retroactivity provision for the court to impose a reduced sentence for those sentenced before this act gets signed after considering the 3553(a) factors. He has promised clemency reform. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed. Founded in 1991, FAMM is helping transform Americas criminal justice system by uniting the voices of impacted families and individuals and elevating the issues all across the country. Some of the Smarter Sentencing Act provisions echo those of the Sentence Reform and Corrections Act of 2017, introduced two days earlier. While the House also passed the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana, the measure has been dead on arrival in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) announced plans to draft his own version of the bill. Thus, a crack defendant sentenced August 3, 2009, was hammered with the 100:1 ratio, while a defendant sentenced August 3, 2010, was treated more in line with what a cocaine powder defendant would face. And his Dept, of Justice finally reinterpreted the CARES Act to let people on home confinement stay there. The 113th Congress held several hearing and heard testimony through 2013 and 2014 without passage. Sens. Apr 26, 2023, But presidents still wouldnt be able to move their legal cases to the shows The Peoples Court or Divorce Court. Sen. Cotton, a hardline prohibitionist described by Beforeitsnews.com as someone who has never met a drug penalty he thought was too severe, objected. The Judiciary chair ranked criminal justice as high on his list of priorities, though he said legislation addressing crime and law enforcement may be just as challenging as immigration a famously tough area of bipartisan compromise on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that low-level crack cocaine offenders cannot benefit from a 2018 federal law. We hope that with your input we can make GovTrack more accessible to minority and disadvantaged communities who we may currently struggle to reach. This bill was introduced in the 116 th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. About 50% of those federal inmates are serving sentences for drug-related offenses, increasing the taxpayer burden by more than 2,000%. Sentencing reform is dead for another two years. Youre more than a vote, so support GovTrack today with a tip of any amount: Or keep using GovTrack for free! You recall that in Terry v. United States last June, the Supreme Court held that Section 404 did not qualify pre-2010 crack sentences for sentence reduction. Mandatory minimums dehumanize people by in the words of Judge Stephanos Bibas acting as sledgehammers rather than scalpels, falling with equal force on people whose circumstances are dramatically different from one another and preventing judges from calibrating punishment to suit the person or the crime. Heres how you can help. An online version of this release can be foundhere. No one knows. The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. Long sentences also make it more difficult for people to reintegrate into society. Le gustara continuar en la pgina de inicio de Brennan Center en espaol? However, despite Garlands testimony, his Department of Justice has given no sign that it will stop pursuing mandatory minimums. Request that they cosponsor the Smarter Sentencing Act! See Terms of Service, Then, Sen Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and introduced his, Sen. Booker then sought unanimous consent to release the stand-alone version of the, Grassley was enraged, blasting the Garland memo as demanding that prosecutors ignore the text and spirit of federal statutes [and] undermining legislative efforts to address this sentencing disparity. And just like that, when the text of the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion spending bill was released, the watered-down, FAMM vice president Molly Gill wants to see the, The fact that a large number of House Republicans joined Democrats in passing the, Congress was recessed all last week and for part of this one, so no legislative progress was made on the, But both senior senators acknowledge its not a glide path forward,, Meanwhile, Durbin said hes concerned about a, Senate aides on both sides of the aisle warn that, Since Bidens inauguration, criminal justice reform has taken a back seat to his more prominent initiatives, last Marchs, A couple of bills before Congress would reduce but not eliminate mandatory minimums: the, In the House, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina) introduced the. The SSA will give judges the flexibility and discretion they need to impose stiff sentences on the most serious drug lords and cartel bosses, while enabling nonviolent offenders to return more quickly to their families and communities.. expanding the safety valve contained in 18 USC 3553(f) which permits court to relieve low-level drug offenders with relatively clean records to avoid mandatory minimum sentences under some circumstances to include people with slightly more criminal history. Attempts to stitch up the tattered old paradigm are futile and will not eradicate the spreading stain of racial inequity. If you teach United States government and would like to speak with us about bringing legislative data into your classroom, please reach out! Currently, the Byzantine sentencing regime in 21 USC 841(b) provides differing levels of mandatory minimum sentences for various quantities of different drugs, various number of prior drug felonies, and whether death or serious injury resulted from the drug dealing. Edits include language to define a serious violent felony and reducing the terms on a number of drug offenses. The defendants in crack cases were overwhelmingly black. The Smarter Sentencing Act is a commonsense solution that will greatly reduce the financial, and more importantly the human, cost imposed on society by the broken status quo. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss. Under the 2018 bill, the change affected people sentenced under 841(b)(1)(A) and (b)(1)(B), but not people sentenced under the lowest level of sentence, 841(b)(1)(C). I pray something is passed. Download PDF II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1013 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 25, 2021 The November 2015 edits additional safe guards from releasing repeat, violent offenders and applied retroactivity to sentences. The chair of the Commission issued a statement on the same day saying that "This modest reduction in drug penalties is an important step toward reducing the problem of prison overcrowding at the federal level in a proportionate and fair manner," said Judge Patti B. Saris, chair of the commission. While some lonely voices are calling for passage of such a bill, with Democrats in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, expect a cacophony of Republicans claims that Democrats are to blame for rising crime rates. Sen. Angus King co-sponsors the 'Smarter Sentencing Act' NEWS CENTER Maine 38.9K subscribers Subscribe 213 views 1 year ago The 'Smarter Sentencing Act' would allow federal judges to. Ordered Reported, Reintroduced Bill Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. [4] Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. The most comprehensive solution introduced in recent years was theMandatory Minimum Sentence Reform Act of 2017, which would have repealed all mandatory minimums for federal drug crimes. Launched in 2004, GovTrack helps everyone learn about and track the activities of the United States Congress. Chuck Grassley U.S. Senate 135 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley: We are writing to urge you to advance the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill that promotes A lot of what had been contained in prior versions of the SSA, a bill which has been introduced in every Congress since 2013, was included in the First Step Act. The five-year mandatory minimum (for 100 grams or more of heroin or 500 grams or more of cocaine) would drop to two years. So what is real? So in other words, it would look like this: such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 10 5 years or more than life and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be not less than 20 years or more than lifeIf any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a serious drug felony or serious violent felonyhas become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 10years and not more than life imprisonment and if death orserious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to life imprisonment. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the Smarter Sentencing Act] got votes in Senate Judiciary Committee from the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. The sleeper in S.1014is that it would let virtually anyone sentenced under 841(c) prior to the 2018 First Step Actseek a reduction using a procedure a lot like the Fair Sentencing Act retroactivity motions. Many provisions introduced in previous versions were ultimately included in the First Step Act of 2018, of which FAMM played an active role in securing passage. The hearings and testimony that occurred in 2013 in relation to the 2013 version continued to be on record and in support of the 2015 version. The politics are hard to predict: Democrats have one more seat in the Senate, while Republicans will take narrow control of the House. This page is sourced primarily from Rabiah Burks, 202-822-6700 It would extend retroactivity to anyone sentenced for drug or stacked 924(c) offenses sentenced prior to the 2018 First Step Act and let judges waive criminal history limitations that keep defendants from getting the 18 USC 3553 safety value. . Update for April 21, 2022, Cruz has been described by one conservative columnist, Its Halftime for the 117th Congress, and Criminal Justice Reform Has Been Held Scoreless Update for January 3, 2022, canceling contracts with private prison operators, There Aint No Easter Bunny Update for September 16, 2021, U.S. House Judiciary Committee with a vote of 36-5, Drug and 924(c) Sentence Reduction, Retroactivity Bills Introduced Update for March 29, 2021, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor noted last week, Smarter Sentencing Act Back In The Senate Hopper Update for November 19, 2019, Smarter Sentencing Act: Just Like Before, But With More Sponsors Update for October 17, 2017, Biden Commutes Sentences of 31 People Who Are Already At Home Update for May 1, 2023, Code Blue At BOP, GAO Says Update for April 28, 2023, Phoning It In On Review of Magistrates Decision Not Good Enough Update for April 27, 2023, Nothing Really IS Sacred Update for April 25, 2023, Three First Step Reform Retread Bills Introduced Update for April 24, 2023, FBI Legal Handbook for Special Agents 2003, FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide 2008, FBI Manual of Investigative Operations & Guidelines 1998, FBI Manual of Administrative Operations & Procedures 1998, Federal Public Defender lawyers resources. Meanwhile, S.1014 the First Step Implementation Act is equally significant. Still, EQUAL had a chance until Sen Tom Cotton (RAR) single-handedly stopped the Senate from considering the bill last Wednesday. Alexander was charged and arrested in November 2021. 920, the Smarter Sentencing Act", http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/10-01-15%20Sentencing%20Reform%20and%20Corrections%20Act%20-%20Bill%20Text.pdf, "Kinder, gentler: Less time inside for less-serious crimes", "Too many Americans are incarcerated for too long", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smarter_Sentencing_Act&oldid=1133844659, United States proposed federal criminal legislation, Proposed legislation of the 113th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 114th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 115th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 116th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 117th United States Congress, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. its mandate to formulate guidelines to minimize the likelihood that the federal prison population will exceed federal prison capacity, the intent of Congress that penalties for violent and serious drug traffickers who present public safety risks remain appropriately severe, and. This is unfortunate because Garland has real power to reduce racialized mass incarceration. For Media Inquiries: The, Additionally, the bill corrects a weird anomaly in the, As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. Then, Sen Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and introduced his SMART Cocaine Sentencing Act (S. 4116), which watered down EQUAL and put retroactivity in the hands of the Dept of Justice. Second, prosecutors power over mandatory minimums in turn creates racial disparities, obliterating any pretense of an unbiased system.
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