People like Cottonmake even common-sense federal criminal justice reform a hard sell. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law. %PDF-1.5 Only a few bills have been voted out of committee in the Senate the, 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. 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? 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. It faces another battle to pass through the rest of Congress, and Utahs delegation should be there to vote in support. (1)in section 102 (21 U.S.C. 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). 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. 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. ., Our current federal sentencing laws are out of date and often counterproductive,said Sen. Lee. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in Biden did issue an executive order canceling contracts with private prison operators, a nice change for the 14,000 people in those joints. The dominant paradigm is vulnerable, and instituting a new paradigm is both possible and crucial. Consequently, the least culpable players incur severe punishments, while the most culpable leverage their knowledge into lenient plea deals. "Bill Summary: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021", "Democrats and Republicans in Congress Actually Found Something to Agree on", "S. 502 / H.R. April 12, 2021 The Hon. cutting mandatory minimums in 21 USC 960 for drug mules carrying drugs into the country courier in half. 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. Bupkis. The Justice Roundtable, Durbin, Lee Reintroduce Smarter Sentencing Act (Nov. 16). We hope that with your input we can make GovTrack more accessible to minority and disadvantaged communities who we may currently struggle to reach. If you can, please take a few minutes to help us improve GovTrack for users like you. 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. [1] The United States Senate has Bought forth the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, which will do much for mandatory minimums and "Couriers" if passed. Bills numbers restart every two years. The original text reduces sentences by about half. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 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. 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. Apr 26, 2023, But presidents still wouldnt be able to move their legal cases to the shows The Peoples Court or Divorce Court. The American people deserve better.. In some cases, the new minimums would apply retroactively, giving some people currently in prison on drug offenses a new sentence.[1]. |work=Legislation As of the date of this report, we have no bill number to associate with the legislation. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that implementation of this provision would save taxpayers approximately $3 billion over ten years. 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. . 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. In sum, the so-called 65% bill is like a pink unicorn: fun to imagine, but not real. We hope to make GovTrack more useful to policy professionals like you. Join 10 million other Americans using GovTrack to learn about and contact your representative and senators and track what Congress is doing each day. 1013 (117th) Any bill now pending in the House or Senate that has not passed will disappear on Jan 3, when the new 2-year Congress the 118th convenes. Other problems flow from this perversion of the power balance. 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. By June 2014, 25 co-sponsoring Senators (17 Democrat, 6 Republican and 2 Independent) joined to show their support. Alison Siegler is a clinical professor of law and the founding director of the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. ), 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. A new law that would reduce drug sentences passed a major Senate hurdle this week with bipartisan support. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. endobj ), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). That means that the reform bills now in front of Congress still have a chance. Forget swinging the pendulum from tough-on-crime to leniency; it always swings back. Second, the Smarter Sentencing Act would make the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) retroactive. The debate over crack versus powder cocaine has no basis in science, in rationality, or in ethics. After years of urging by the Sentencing Commission and studies showing that Congress rationale for the ADA that crack was more addictive and crack offenses more violent was bunkum, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010. The bipartisanSmarter Sentencing Act of 2021would enact a narrower reform, reducing mandatory minimums for certain non-violent drug offenses and making other reforms retroactive. 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. Several important reforms from the Smarter Sentencing Act were included in the landmark First Step Act, which was enacted into law in 2018. S. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. making the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1, retroactive. The First Step Act incorporated the life-to-25 year and the 20-to-15 year reductions, but not the remainders. And our overreliance on prisons makes us less safe bydiverting resourcesfrom other critical public safety needs. (9 Democrats, 2 Independents, 2 Republicans). The full list of cosponsors includes:Sens. And there is no 65% Bill. (ii)by striking "not be less than 10 years" and inserting "not be less than 5 years"". 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. (A)in the flush text following clause (viii), (i)by striking "10 years or more" and inserting "5 years or more"; "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. <> 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., 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. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. 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 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. 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. But both senior senators acknowledge its not a glide path forward, Politico said, particularly given the GOP messaging on rising crime ahead of the 2022 midterms a focus that was on full display during Ketanji Brown Jacksons Supreme Court hearings last month., Jackson was blasted last month by a few Republican senators for being too soft on sentencingchild sex abuse and drug offenders. Since then, the mandatory minimums paradigm has come under fire for three primary reasons: the reallocation of power from judges to prosecutors; the extension of racism and classism; and the failure to advance community safety. Data via the congress project. Now what? Still, it appeared up until a week ago that some crack cocaine relief would be jammed into the giant end-of-year spending bill. Would you like to join our advisory group to work with us on the future of GovTrack? |publisher=GovTrack.us 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. The current MORE Act has collected only one Republican co-sponsor. It is titled S.1013 - A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders., As of this writing, the text of the act is not present on the bill page, but it is available on a page titled "Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.". If they decide that a mandatory minimum should be charged, they should charge the pertinent statutory quantities that apply to powder cocaine offenses. And at sentencing, prosecutors should advocate for a sentence consistent with the guidelines for powder cocaine rather than crack cocaine.. Meanwhile, the less culpable little fish are yoked with high mandatory minimums. 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. ), 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. By joining our advisory group, you can help us make GovTrack more useful and engaging to young voters like you. This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 20:14. |author=117th Congress (2021) In 1970, Congress repealed most drug-related mandatory minimums, taking more of apublic health approachto drug policy. First Step adjusted mandatory life in 841(b)(1)(A) to 25 years, and mandatory 20 years in the same subsection to 15 years. As long time followers will note, we have been covering the introduction of the Smarter Sentencing Act since 2015. from 10 years to 5 years for a low-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. |quote=Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11 of their colleagues. 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. 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. Ordered Reported, Reintroduced Bill (i)by striking "5 years" and inserting "2 years"; and endobj Meanwhile, S.1014 the First Step Implementation Act is equally significant. If it did exist, it wouldnt get one now. 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). Lee and Durbin first introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act in 2013. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed. 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. In the wake of basketball star Len Bias death in 1988, Congress passed the draconian Anti Drug Abuse Act, which equated one gram of crack cocaine to 100 gramsof cocaine powder. At the same time, Durbin and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced S.1014, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021. Second, prosecutors power over mandatory minimums in turn creates racial disparities, obliterating any pretense of an unbiased system. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, andsentencing issues. Sen. Bookers hail Mary fell short. Sens. We called Sen. Lees office last week for a copy of the measure, and received our copy yesterday. 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 bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11of their colleagues. Youre more than a vote, so support GovTrack today with a tip of any amount: Or keep using GovTrack for free! The Brennan Center works to build an America that is democratic, just, and free. 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. Ironically, this jailbreak bill even provided early release for those who helped prisoners break out of jail. The Smarter Sentencing Act is endorsed by the following organizations: American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Dream Corps JUSTICE, Due Process Institute, FAMM, Federal Public and Community Defenders, FreedomWorks, Justice Action Network, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Prison Fellowship, and R Street Institute. Half measures wont be effective; empirical work suggests that theObama administrations efforts to temper mandatory minimumsin drug cases did little to reduce sentences or racial disparities. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1013, S. . The Bill: If passed, the Smarter Sentencing Act would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking and some drug importation offenses. Text for S.1013 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 "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. Preventive monitoring of conditions in American prisons can help shine a light on what needs to change. The original language in the bill references the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 and specific language detailing certain drug offenses. Arecent studyfinds that prosecutors mandatory minimum charges resulted in Black individuals spending more time in prison than whites for the exact same crimes. 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). How You Can Take Action: 1. That should make sentencing changes that much harder, Politico said. We must instead heedJustice Sonia Sotomayors messagethat, until we value the lives, rights, and liberties of those on the receiving end of the system, our justice system will continue to be anything but.. Apr 25, 2023. 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). For nearly three decades, FAMM has united the voices of affected families, the formerly incarcerated, and a range of stakeholders and advocates to fight for a more fair and effective justice system. 1 0 obj Zero. from 20 years to 10 years for a high-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. Any bill introduced in the 117th Congress which began in January 2021 will stick around until the 117th expires a year from today. 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.
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