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The text of the 140 plus page bill was posted at the Judicial Committee's website,. 2023 Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, about Independent Oversight Is Essential for a Safe and Healthy Prison System, about There Is No One Answer to Over-Policing and Mass Incarceration There Are Many, about How Some European Prisons Are Based on Dignity Instead of Dehumanization, Government Targeting of Minority Communities, National Task Force on Democracy Reform & the Rule of Law, reentered the federal system with a vengeance, provide prosecutors with weapons to bludgeon defendants into effectively coerced plea bargains, in states with higher levels of racial animus, incarceration is inherently criminogenic, long-standing directive to federal prosecutors, Obama administrations efforts to temper mandatory minimums, Congress must repeal federal mandatory minimums, Mandatory Minimum Sentence Reform Act of 2017, Independent Oversight Is Essential for a Safe and Healthy Prison System, There Is No One Answer to Over-Policing and Mass Incarceration There Are Many, How Some European Prisons Are Based on Dignity Instead of Dehumanization. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). SmarterSentencing would also create a new category of `courier for a defendant whose role was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money. 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? Any of these reforms would be a step toward establishing a new paradigm that abjures mandatory minimums and respects human dignity. 3617) exactly none made it past the Senate during the two-year Congress that ends in a week. 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. 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. 2021. Another study similarly finds that some federal prosecutors charge Black and Latino individuals more often than white individuals with possession or sale of a quantity of drugs just sufficient to trigger a mandatory minimum; the disparity is highest in states with higher levels of racial animus.. The 10-year mandatory minimum (for 1 kilo or more of heroin or five kilos or more of cocaine) would drop to five years. %PDF-1.5 People like Cottonmake even common-sense federal criminal justice reform a hard sell. [4] Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. Hackers/journalists/researchers: See these open data sources. Second, prosecutors power over mandatory minimums in turn creates racial disparities, obliterating any pretense of an unbiased system. 3617), or for that matter anything else. Thank you for joining the GovTrack Advisory Community! 4 0 obj U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for Aug. 10, 2023. Hes blowing his opportunity (September 8, 2021), Deseret News, Conservatives should support sentencing reform for crack cocaine (September 8, 2021). The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11of their colleagues. Mandatory minimum penalties have played a large role in the explosion of the U.S. prison population, often leading to sentences that are unfair, fiscally irresponsible, and a threat to public safety, Sen. Durbin said in a press release. This activity took place on a related bill, S. 1410 (113th). 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. Of all the criminal justice reform bills in Congress the First Step Implementation Act (S.1014), the Smarter Sentencing Act (S.1013), the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act (S.312), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act (S.601), the EQUAL Act (S.79) and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (H.R. New Republic: Three Incredibly Popular Things That Congress Chose to Leave Out of the Spending Bill (December 20, 2022), Reason, Congress Yet Again Fails To Pass Crack Cocaine Sentencing Reforms (December 20, 2022), Marijuana Moment, Schumers last ditch cannabis banking push (December 19, 2022), Reason, Merrick Garlands New Charging Policy Aims To Ameliorate the Damage His Boss Did As a Drug Warrior (December 19, 2022), Beforeitsnews.com, The Failure To Enact Marijuana Banking and Crack Sentencing Reforms Is a Window on Congressional Dysfunction (December 22, 2022), Filter, The Limits of AGs Guidelines Against Crack-Powder Sentencing Disparity (December 21, 2022). Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. In the mid-80s, mandatory minimumsreentered the federal system with a vengeanceas a pillar of President Reagans War on Drugs. By the end of the 1980s,all 50 stateshad enacted mandatory minimums. 224 Dirksen Senate Office Building Required fields are marked *, There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice. ~ Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brde et de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law (1748), Copyright 2022, LISA Foundation and Legal Information Services Associates LLC. WASHINGTON - Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) cosponsored the "Smarter Sentencing Act," bipartisan legislation designed to bring judicial discretion and flexibility to non-violent drug charge sentencing. S1013 | US Congress 2021-2022 | A bill to focus limited - TrackBill 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. 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. 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. Our public interest mission means we will never put our service behind a paywall. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is a searing indictment of a broken Beltway when a bill that passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, endorsed by law enforcement and civil rights leaders alike, with 11 Republican co-sponsors and filibuster-proof majority support in the Senate, and an agreement between the relevant committee Chairman and Ranking Member for inclusion in the end-of-year package, fails to make it to the Presidents desk, Holly Harris, president and executive director of the Justice Action Network, said. The United States Senate has Bought forth the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, which will do much for mandatory minimums and "Couriers" if passed. FAMM In 2013, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) established a six-month, bipartisan Over-Criminalization Task Force to address the scope and size of the federal criminal code and regulations. FAMM supports this bill. Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience and may not be complete or accurate. A Bi-partisan Summit on Criminal Justice Reform, met in March 2015 to discuss reforming America's criminal justice system and received national news coverage. the need to reduce and prevent racial disparities in sentencing. If you stayed awake in high school, you recall that every Congress lasts two years. This bill was introduced in the 116 th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. Long sentences also make it more difficult for people to reintegrate into society. Currently, the dominant paradigm in the criminal legal system is the myth that imposing harsh mandatory minimum sentences and locking people of color in cages are necessary to keep white people safe. The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. 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. 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. Mandatory minimums provide prosecutors with weapons to bludgeon defendants into effectively coerced plea bargains and convince people to cooperate against others. On New Years Day, the San Francisco Chronicle called for a targeted bill to abolish mandatory minimums, said, The good news is that criminal justice reform can be accomplished with relatively limited expenditures compared to, for example, Build Back Betters sweeping expansion of the social safety net. It might have even set a record. Introduced in Senate (03/25/2021) 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. 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. Ordered Reported, Reintroduced Bill |quote=Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 My kids need their father home and I would love to have the help and our family complete . 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. While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the, SMARTER SENTENCING ACT RE-INTRODUCED IN SENATE, A lot of what had been contained in prior versions of the. Instead, we need a paradigm shift. Congress first enacted mandatory minimums for drug offensesin the early 20th century. On November 5, 2015 there was a significant move with the legislation. 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. So what is real? The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that low-level crack cocaine offenders cannot benefit from a 2018 federal law. Second, a lot of criticism of the President over the CARES Act. from 20 years to 10 years for a high-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. 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. No one knows. . 801 et seq.) Both parties and both chambers of Congress agreed to revisions to federal sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimums. The important but piecemeal work of criminal justice reform continued last week with two significant bills being introduced in the Senate. Over the past century, the mandatory minimums paradigm has moved through the second phase of a paradigm shift the crisis phase becoming the subject of dispute and controversy. Sentencing reform is dead for another two years. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law. It was clear last summer that the First Step Implementation Act, the Smarter Sentencing Act, the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act (and the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act were going nowhere. Citations available for content in Chicago, APA and MLA format. We think all mandatory minimum sentencing laws should be repealed, Ring said. This produces theCooperation Paradox: Big fish who are more culpable and have information about other criminal activity can avoid a mandatory minimum by collaborating in the prosecution of others. cutting mandatory minimums in the drug trafficking laws. Your email address will not be published. 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. And our overreliance on prisons makes us less safe bydiverting resourcesfrom other critical public safety needs. Last week, he wrote in Real Clear Politics: Unfortunately, soft-on-crime policies have been, at times, a bipartisan problem. It doesnt have to be that way with criminal justice reform (January 1, 2022), S. 1014: First Step Implementation Act of 2021, Brookings Institution, The numbers for drug reform in Congress dont add up (December 22, 2021), Real Clear Politics, Recall, Remove & Replace Every Last Soros Prosecutor (December 20, 2021). Document Citations. Sens. President Biden and his attorney general havedenounced mandatory minimums, as did former Attorney General Eric Holder. We hope to make GovTrack more useful to policy professionals like you. stream While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 14 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> With infrastructure and the $3.5 trillion spending bills taking center stage in Congress, it is unlikely that criminal justice reform will get any attention until next year. Still, EQUAL had a chance until Sen Tom Cotton (RAR) single-handedly stopped the Senate from considering the bill last Wednesday. Even though federal prosecutors all of whom are subject to supervision by the Department of Justice have long been the primary proponents of mandatory minimums, Attorney General Merrick Garland affirmed this position during his confirmation hearings: We should . 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. 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. Lee and Durbin first introduced theSmarter Sentencing Actin 2013. such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 5 2 years and not more than 40 years and if death or serious bodily injuryresults from the use of such substance shall be not less than 20 years or more than life, a fine not to exceed the greater of that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18 or $5,000,000 if the defendant is an individual or $25,000,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both. Lee and Durbin first introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act in 2013. If anything here applies to you, contact us today. S. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. |author=117th Congress (2021) (b)(1)(B): The 10-year mandatory minimumfor a prior drug offense would drop to 5 years, and the 5-year mandatory minimumfloor would drop to 2 years. Examples abound for successful alternative methods that can greatly improve the current criminal legal system. Third, and perhaps most significantly, the Smarter Sentencing Act would lower the mandatory minimum sentences under 21 U.S.C. As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. The Smarter Sentencing Act - Prison Fellowship We are also still on Instagram at @govtrack.us posting 60-second video summaries of legislation in Congress. But some marijuana and cocaine reform even though it was not quite what was in the MORE Act and EQUAL Act that passed the House looked likely as late as last week. 841(b)(1)) The bill's Bi-Partisan support from both the Republican and Democratic parties helped increase its likelihood of moving through committee hearings. 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). Under the language of the version in the Senate Judiciary Committee, it authorizes a court that imposed a sentence for a crack cocaine possession or trafficking offense committed before August 3, 2010, on motion of the defendant, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, the attorney for the government, or the court, to impose a reduced sentence as if provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 were in effect at the time such offense was committed. If you can, please take a few minutes to help us improve GovTrack for users like you. After answering yet another email about the mythical 65% bill legislation that purportedly would reduce everyones sentence to 65% of what the court imposed I thought I would lead with this sad news: There is no Santa Claus. The SSA would cut the mandatory minimums applicable to couriers by half.