See Terms of Service, TWO BILLS CUTTING MANDATORY MINIMUMS, PROPOSING RETROACTIVITY, INTRODUCED INSENATE, 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. 3382) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it gained cosponsors from both parties. Durbin, Lee Introduce Smarter Sentencing Act | United States Senate Legal Information Services Associates LLC, Showing Some Compassion: 18 USC 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor noted last week, 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. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 20:14. Once, only Sen Tom Cotton (R-Ark) (who calls First Step Trumps biggest mistake) demanded longer sentences. endobj As Isabel Wilkersonwrites, our countrys racial caste system relies on dehumanization to lock the marginalized outside the norms of humanity so that any action against them is seen as reasonable. So many of the horrors Wilkerson catalogs in the program of purposeful dehumanization instituted by the Nazis and by the United States during chattel slavery have analogues in todays carceral state: anonymous uniforms replacing clothing, inmate numbers supplanting names, the shaving of heads, the roll calls. Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. 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. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute, striving to uphold the values of democracy. 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), Your email address will not be published. . We think all mandatory minimum sentencing laws should be repealed, Ring said. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11 of their colleagues. |title=S. 841(b)(1)) We are also still on Instagram at @govtrack.us posting 60-second video summaries of legislation in Congress. Sure, the publics thirst for vengeance is slaked by such toughness. WASHINGTON - FAMM President Kevin Ring released the following statement in support of the U.S. Senate introduction of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, which would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenses. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. www.GovTrack.us. 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). (A)in the flush text following clause (viii), (i)by striking "10 years or more" and inserting "5 years or more"; Most of the original text was lined through and new text was incorporated. making the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1, retroactive. While the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the crack-cocaine disparity bill last year, it has yet to schedule a markup. I will keep fighting to get this commonsense, bipartisan legislation through the Senate with my colleague, Senator Lee., Our current federal sentencing laws are out of date and often counterproductive, said Lee. All Info - S.1013 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Smarter Sentencing Act Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience and may not be complete or accurate. 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. But the real work is to be done in Congress, whas yet to progress. The MOREAct would have allowed cannabis companies to open bank accounts and would have retroactively permitted changes in pot-based sentences. April 12, 2021 The Hon. S.1013 - Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 117th Congress (2021-2022) The 10-year mandatory minimum (for 1 kilo or more of heroin or five kilos or more of cocaine) would drop to five years. Lee and Durbin first introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act in 2013. With boththe House nor Senate closed for aChristmas-Passover-Kwanzaa-New Years vacation until next Tuesday, the 117thCongress is done. Still, it appeared up until a week ago that some crack cocaine relief would be jammed into the giant end-of-year spending bill. While Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee(D-Texas) has introduced such a bill in a number of previous sessions of Congress since 2001, there is no such bill in the hopper now. Lee and Durbin first introduced theSmarter Sentencing Actin 2013. 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. "Reducing the federal prison population has become urgent, with that population almost three times where it was in 1991.". Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. Heres how you can help. Still, EQUAL had a chance until Sen Tom Cotton (RAR) single-handedly stopped the Senate from considering the bill last Wednesday. The confusion was compounded because we were unable to locate a draft of the, Currently, a single misdemeanor in ones background can disqualify the defendant from, After years of urging by the Sentencing Commission and studies showing that Congress rationale for the, Currently, the Byzantine sentencing regime in, The bill does not explicitly make any change it proposes retroactive other than the extension of the, Legal Information Services Associates LLC, Showing Some Compassion: 18 USC 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), Blue Christmas for Criminal Justice Reform Update for December 27, 2022, Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, EQUAL Act But Unequal Reform? At the federal level alone, mandatory minimum penalties form the cornerstone of the human caging system. Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 (2021 - S. 1013) <>>> 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. Text - S.1013 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Smarter Sentencing Act of 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. Hes blowing his opportunity (September 8, 2021), Deseret News, Conservatives should support sentencing reform for crack cocaine (September 8, 2021). The bill's Bi-Partisan support from both the Republican and Democratic parties helped increase its likelihood of moving through committee hearings. In short, federal incarceration has become one of our nations biggest expenditures, dwarfing the amount spent on law enforcement. Zip. Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. 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. Any of these reforms would be a step toward establishing a new paradigm that abjures mandatory minimums and respects human dignity. On March 25, 2021, Senators Durbin and several others introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. 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). This essay is part of the Brennan Centers series examining the punitive excess that has come to define Americas criminal legal system. 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 debate over crack versus powder cocaine has no basis in science, in rationality, or in ethics. |date=March 25, 2021 from 10 years to 5 years for a low-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. If the new law is passed, someone who was sentenced for a crack cocaine offense before the FSA was enacted could file a motion and seek a shorter sentence under the FSA sentencing scheme. The important but piecemeal work of criminal justice reform continued last week with two significant bills being introduced in the Senate. 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. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. Any of these reforms would be a step toward establishing a new paradigm that abjures mandatory minimums and respects human dignity. He wrote, As a former influential senator and Judiciary Committee chairman, President Joe Biden is at least partially responsible for the explosive growth of our federal prison population. 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. I will keep fighting to get this commonsense, bipartisan legislation through the Senate with my colleague, Senator Lee.. The Smarter Sentencing Act promotes the value of proportional punishment by addressing excessive sentences for those convicted of federal drug offenses. Under 21 USC 960, the drug importation criminal statute, they get hammered with the same mandatory sentences as Mr. Big, the kingpin staying safely offshore. This bill would eliminate the crack/powder disparity that results in longer mandatory minimum sentences for Black Americans; but it would not end mandatory minimums. The defendants in crack cases were overwhelmingly black. 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 House version of the Act had 18 co-sponsors by February 2014. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The document discussed the sentencing guidelines causing life sentences to be issued for various types of offenses. All 50 statesand DC also have mandatory minimum sentencing laws. x\[o6~GH([8^bpI\';3%9$;v8swM1[x^r.~^\=-/}Urs~.y{HF_i<=Q:=Q dEB$6.Sq[1S\>U!zP$H\(PzA PI`6>Zpozd8E5ztcME}OE#D!V|pvr?~LafR,[|jYm*mr'\N5{wu+3JMnc. (ii)by striking "such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 20 years and" and inserting "such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years and"; and Sentencing Law and Policy: Senators Durbin and Lee re-introduce As long time followers will note, we have been covering the introduction of the Smarter Sentencing Act since 2015. Join 10 million other Americans using GovTrack to learn about and contact your representative and senators and track what Congress is doing each day. Meanwhile, S.1014 the First Step Implementation Act is equally significant. However, Durbins office said the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.. Examples abound for successful alternative methods that can greatly improve the current criminal legal system. 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. 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 . ), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). 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). Were collecting the statements of stakeholder organizations. from 20 years to 10 years for a high-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. "Sec. Forget swinging the pendulum from tough-on-crime to leniency; it always swings back. 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, Durbin said. 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. But then, Attorney General Merrick Garland picked the middle of the negotiations to issue a memo directing federal prosecutors to promote the equivalent treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses in two ways. And there is no 65% Bill. This change was incorporated into the First Step Act. In fact, prosecutors bring mandatory minimums65 percent more oftenagainst Black defendants, all else remaining equal. And our overreliance on prisons makes us less safe bydiverting resourcesfrom other critical public safety needs. Mar 25, 2021 117 th Congress (2021-2023) Status Died in a previous Congress This bill was introduced on March 25, 2021, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote. They become casualties of a process that sets aside proportionality or mercy in favor of increasing the number of convictions. 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. "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. Arecent studyfinds that prosecutors mandatory minimum charges resulted in Black individuals spending more time in prison than whites for the exact same crimes. The FSA is the law that reduces the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. . GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. The Smarter Sentencing Act proposes similar adjustments: (b)(1)(A): The 15-year mandatory minimumfor a prior drug offense would drop to 10 years, and the 10-year mandatory minimumfloor would drop to 5 years. [4] Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. A paradigm shift occurs in three phases: it starts with a dominant paradigm, moves through a crisis phase, and ends with a revolutionary change in world-view that constitutes a new dominant paradigm. Sens. 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. Instead, we need a paradigm shift. [3] The House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary was the next step in the bill being passed into law. 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. The Smarter Sentencing Act ( S. 1013) is a bill in the United States Senate that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for some federal drug offenses. SmarterSentencing would also create a new category of `courier for a defendant whose role was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money. 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. By the summer recess, H.R.920 had 52 co-sponsors and S. 502 had 12. Bills numbers restart every two years. How You Can Take Action: 1. 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. Posted by: Elisia | Mar 26, 2021 5:35:17 PM. Sen. Angus King co-sponsors the 'Smarter Sentencing Act' He added that if Democrats agree to certain provisions related to law enforcement, that might make it possible to get something done.. Copyright 2016-Present The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon. If you teach United States government and would like to speak with us about bringing legislative data into your classroom, please reach out! 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 act also proposes to trade the language of "Felony Drug Offense" in 841 with "serious drug felony" or "serious violent felony," the new language from the FIRST STEP Act of 2018. The Act was passed by a vote of 13 to 5. 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. |work=Legislation 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 Senate bill, now named S.2123: Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, was revised by Charles Grassley R-IA. 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). 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. Prosecutors use of mandatory minimums inover halfof all federal cases disproportionately impacts poor people of color and has driven theexponential growthin the federal prison population in recent decades. When the SAFE Banking Act, a marijuana bill, passed the House last year, it got 106 Republican votes, demonstrating that the GOP can deliver votes on cannabis legislation. The Smarter Sentencing Act (S.1013) is a bill in the United States Senate that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for some federal drug offenses. 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.
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