However, despite Garlands testimony, his Department of Justice has given no sign that it will stop pursuing mandatory minimums. [1] Even Grassley, who is not a co-sponsor but is unapologetically pro-reform, has outlined concerns about whether EQUAL could garner enough Republican support in the Senate to pass. "Sec. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. . 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. In March 2020, in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which among other things, created a temporary federal unemployment . 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. The bill's Bi-Partisan support from both the Republican and Democratic parties helped increase its likelihood of moving through committee hearings. Your poor, dumb peasant from El Cocador humping marijuana across the border or clueless young woman flying in to JFK from East Slobovia with heroin in the liner of her suitcase These are the couriers, the lowest of the low-level defendant being paid maybe two shekels for hauling someone elses big score. (More Info). Launched in 2004, GovTrack helps everyone learn about and track the activities of the United States Congress. 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.. No one knows. 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. His legislative record is riddled with bills he supported, and sometimes wrote, that filled BOP cells and encouraged states to do the same. Rather, anyprison time at allincreasesthe risk of future crimebecauseincarceration is inherently criminogenic; mandatory minimums only exacerbate this situation. Phone: 410-244-5444 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. With boththe House nor Senate closed for aChristmas-Passover-Kwanzaa-New Years vacation until next Tuesday, the 117thCongress is done. (1)in section 102 (21 U.S.C. 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. ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. SmarterSentencing would also create a new category of `courier for a defendant whose role was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money. Letter to Sens Charles Schumer and Mitch McConnell (September 2, 2021), Washington Examiner, Biden promised to address over-incarceration. 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. No one knows. endobj . Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. In October 2015 Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)revised it and used the name, H.R. Under the proposed change, a couple of felonies will be too much, but more young defendants facing their first serious criminal charge would be sentenced under a scheme that let the judge weigh individual factors rather than applying an inflexible and harsh minimum sentence. First Step adjusted mandatory life in 841(b)(1)(A) to 25 years, and mandatory 20 years in the same subsection to 15 years. The MOREAct would have allowed cannabis companies to open bank accounts and would have retroactively permitted changes in pot-based sentences. The House had 38 co-sponsors (24 Democrat and 14 Republican). The debate over crack versus powder cocaine has no basis in science, in rationality, or in ethics. Alexander was charged and arrested in November 2021. The bill is cosponsored by ten Democratic senators, including three presidential contenders, making the likelihood it will pass in the Senate virtually zero. This bill was introduced in the 117th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2021 to Jan 3, 2023. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). The text goes on further directing the United States Sentencing Commission to consider the safety of the public when reducing the sentences of offenders and the Attorney General to report on the results of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015. (ii)by striking "not be less than 10 years" and inserting "not be less than 5 years"". The SSAwould make the FSA retroactive, permitting defendants sentenced harshly prior to the adoption of the law eligible for resentencing, at their judges discretion, to a more reasonable term. Until that happens, we will support any and all steps to reduce and reform them, including this great bill. SmarterSentencing would also create a new category of `courier for a defendant whose role was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money. ., Our current federal sentencing laws are out of date and often counterproductive,said Sen. Lee. The clocks running out. We all had high hopes for criminal justice reform when President Biden took the White House, and the Democrats won control of the House and Senate. Both parties and both chambers of Congress agreed to revisions to federal sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimums. This essay is part of the Brennan Centers series examining the punitive excess that has come to define Americas criminal legal system. Sen. Bookers hail Mary fell short. One of the most important consequences of these confirmation hearings is there are district judges across the country who may have ambitions for elevations, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who led the charge against Judge Jackson, told CNN. Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. The Smarter Sentencing Act also adds a courier exception to the importation statute of 21 usc 960, the importation statute. [2] The Senate version (S.502) had gained 12 Bi-partisan co-sponsors by late May 2015; the house version (H.R.920) had 43 Bi-partisan co-sponsors by the same date. Bills numbers restart every two years. In the words of the members of the bipartisan U.S. 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). [3] The House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary was the next step in the bill being passed into law. Lee and Durbin first introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act in 2013. If any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a serious drug felony or serious violent felony has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 10 5 years and not more than life imprisonment and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to life imprisonment. Join 10 million other Americans using GovTrack to learn about and contact your representative and senators and track what Congress is doing each day. An online version of this release can be foundhere. U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for Aug. 10, 2023. So when will Congress get to any criminal justice reform measures? FAMM has supported past versions of the Smarter Sentencing Act. Tweets & replies FAMM supports this bill. We called Sen. Lees office last week for a copy of the measure, and received our copy yesterday. 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. For Media Inquiries: Right now, a defendant with two prior drug felonies (no matter how old) caught with five kilos of cocaine gets a mandatory life term: no ifs, ands or buts. Consequently, the least culpable players incur severe punishments, while the most culpable leverage their knowledge into lenient plea deals. And starting in 2019 well be tracking Congresss oversight investigations of the executive branch. The Smarter Sentencing Act, a bill intended to further reduce drug mandatory minimum sentences, was reintroduced in the Senate last week by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The five-year mandatory minimum (for 100 grams or more of heroin or 500 grams or more of cocaine) would drop to two years. Visit us on Instagram, If sponsors had their way, the lyric in Youre a Grand Old Flag would change its description of America to a country where theres never Apr 27, 2023, March 29 was an unusually busy day in Congress for one Arizona Republican. This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 20:14. Introduced, on this bill on a six-point scale from strongly oppose to strongly support. But efforts were severely hobbled last fall when Senate Majority Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced their own version of weed reform, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (S.4591). And we will start all over again, but with a much unfriendlier House of Representatives. Under the SSA, a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence would become 5 years, 20 years would become 10 years, five years would become two years. This is part of a new project to develop better tools for bringing real-time legislative data into the classroom. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11 of their colleagues. The safety valve is critical to many defendants because a) it lowers their offense level by two points and b) it can drop an offender below a mandatory minimum sentence. Prisons in Northern Europe are actually supportive, and they see lower rates of violence and recidivism. The House of Representatives version, known as HR920, was re-introduced by Idaho Republican Raul Labrador in February 2015. In contrast, studies show that shorter sentences in drug casesneither diminish public safetynorincrease drug abuse. Finally, mandatory minimums do not promote community safety. That means there are other bills with the number S. 2850. As of 03/27/2021 text has not been received for S.1013 - A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders. Third, and perhaps most significantly, the Smarter Sentencing Act would lower the mandatory minimum sentences under 21 U.S.C. Document Citations. Further, it reduces the 15 years (If any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a serious drug felony or serious violent felony has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than life imprisonment and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to life imprisonment) down to 10 years. The Senate version of 2013/2014, called S 1410, was introduced by Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). 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). A letter from Bushman and his group to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) -- just one of several letters written by the Smarter Sentencing Act opponents that Bushman said are floating around Capitol Hill -- argues that federal policy should not be driven by "second-order effects of America's drug problem" like incarceration costs. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute, striving to uphold the values of democracy. It would also replace the same portions in 841(b)(1)(B) from 5 years to two years (100 grams of a mix containing a detectable amount of heroin, 500 grams of cocaine, 28 grams of cocaine base, 1 gram of LSD, 100 kilograms or a mixture of a detectible amount of marijuana, 5 grams of meth or 50 grams of a substance containing meth) and from 10 years to 5 years. The votes of at least four members are required for the Commission to promulgate amendments to the Guidelines. The Commission has been paralyzed by lack of quorum since December 2018. Apr 25, 2023. 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. |title=S. This page is sourced primarily from Copyright 2016-Present The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon. That means that the reform bills now in front of Congress still have a chance. Please help us make GovTrack better address the needs of educators by joining our advisory group. The Brennan Center works to build an America that is democratic, just, and free. While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the. By the summer recess, H.R.920 had 52 co-sponsors and S. 502 had 12. Aimed at reducing the disparity in sentencing for crack versus powder cocaine offenses by making crack and powder sentences the same, it would have benefitted thousands of prisoners with retroactive relief. 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 committees assigned to this bill passed the act by a vote of 15-5 and sent it to the House or Senate as a whole for consideration on October 22, 2015. She previously served as an attorney with the Federal Defender Program in Chicago. However, Durbins office said the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.. Sen. Booker then sought unanimous consent to release the stand-alone version of the EQUAL Act from the Senate Judiciary Committee. 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. 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. Washington, DC 20510 Long sentences also make it more difficult for people to reintegrate into society. 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. Committee on the Judiciary, Durbin, Lee Introduce Smarter Sentencing Act (March 26, 2021), Congressional Record, Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions (S.1013 and S.1014) (March 25, 2021), Sentencing Law and Policy, Senators Durbin and Grassley re-introduce Smarter Sentencing Act to reduce federal drug mandatory minimums (March 26, 2021). We are also still on Instagram at @govtrack.us posting 60-second video summaries of legislation in Congress. The mandatory minimum for a courier under 21 USC 960, the importation statute, would essentially be cut in half. Our public interest mission means we will never put our service behind a paywall. The United States Senate has Bought forth the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, which will do much for mandatory minimums and "Couriers" if passed. But as is the case with so many New Years expectations, quite a bit also stayed the same. The current MORE Act has collected only one Republican co-sponsor. Senior Senator for Illinois. 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.
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