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 House version of the Act had 18 co-sponsors by February 2014. <>>> 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. As for marijuana, the Senates failure to act comes as a repudiation of Bidens efforts for pot reform. We think all mandatory minimum sentencing laws should be repealed, Ring said. 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 mandatory minimum for a courier under 21 USC 960, the importation statute, would essentially be cut in half. We called Sen. Lees office last week for a copy of the measure, and received our copy yesterday. Phone: (202) 822-6700, FAMM releases statement on the introduction of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, FAMM and NACDL Present: The Vanishing Trial, FAMMsubmits testimony in support of Illinois medical release bill, FAMM releases statement followingSenate introduction of the First Step Implementation Act. The Justice Roundtable, Durbin, Lee Reintroduce Smarter Sentencing Act (Nov. 16). Tweets & replies Any of these reforms would be a step toward establishing a new paradigm that abjures mandatory minimums and respects human dignity. 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. 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. However, despite bipartisan support for both bills, Senate Republicans shot them down, but with plenty of help from Senate Democrats and the Biden Administration. 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 sheer number of motions likely to be filed might be enough to give Congress pause on this one. It might have even set a record. Lee and Durbin first introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act in 2013. (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. The clocks running out. 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. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, andsentencing issues. Youve cast your vote. 801 et seq.) 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. S.1014 applies the same serious drug felony definition to all three subsections. 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? FAX: 410-934-3208. However, despite Garlands testimony, his Department of Justice has given no sign that it will stop pursuing mandatory minimums. 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. The debate over crack versus powder cocaine has no basis in science, in rationality, or in ethics. GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. Biden did issue an executive order canceling contracts with private prison operators, a nice change for the 14,000 people in those joints. 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. Most of the original text was lined through and new text was incorporated. Although sentencing is supposed to be carried out by a neutral judge, mandatory minimums upend this system by positioning one adversary the prosecutor as the ultimate decision-maker, barring the judge from considering a persons history, culpability, or family responsibilities. 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. And we will start all over again, but with a much unfriendlier House of Representatives. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders. Only a few bills have been voted out of committee in the Senate the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021, and the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act. We love educating Americans about how their government works too! This is a project of Civic Impulse, LLC. And our overreliance on prisons makes us less safe bydiverting resourcesfrom other critical public safety needs. (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) The Brennan Center works to build an America that is democratic, just, and free. In the House, the EQUAL Act is the only criminal justice bill voted out of committee. 841(b)(1)) 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. 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. Bills numbers restart every two years. Consequently, the least culpable players incur severe punishments, while the most culpable leverage their knowledge into lenient plea deals. We were a bit befuddled when Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) announced by press release on October 5, 2017, that he and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) had reintroduced the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2017. It was not clear whether this was a complete retread of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015, S. 502, that died without a vote last December, or whether it was new and improved (or just different). A 65% bill would stand a chance of passage approaching zero. We hope to enable educators to build lesson plans centered around any bill or vote in Congress, even those as recent as yesterday. Writing in the Washington Examiner last week, Matt Schlapp chairman of the American Conservative Union argued that Congress should act to ensure that CARES Act home confinees stay at home after the pandemic ends. Based on my research and reading of the law the Smarter Sentencing Act replaces the mandatory minimum under 841(b)(1)(A) (which is 1 kilo of heroin, 5 kilograms of cocaine, 280 grams of cocaine base, 10 grams of LSD, 1000 Kilograms of Marijuana, 50 grams of meth and 500 grams of a substance containing meth) from 10 years to 5 years. 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. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. , as President Biden has suggested, seek the elimination of mandatory minimum[s].. Additionally, organizations were behind the bill and actively encouraging its passage. Baltimore, MD 21201 1 0 obj Were looking to learn more about who uses GovTrack and what features you find helpful or think could be improved. |author=117th Congress (2021) At the same time, Durbin and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced S.1014, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021. Last week, mainstream Newsweek magazine ran an opinion piece claiming that America, in the year 2022, does not suffer from an over-incarceration problem. Sens. 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. This essay is part of the Brennan Centers series examining the punitive excess that has come to define Americas criminal legal system. % Examples abound for successful alternative methods that can greatly improve the current criminal legal system. In contrast, studies show that shorter sentences in drug casesneither diminish public safetynorincrease drug abuse. 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. Citations available for content in Chicago, APA and MLA format. (2023). While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the. When she did introduce it, the bill never even got a committee hearing. The measure is also backed by Attorney General Eric Holder, although, oddly enough, it is opposed by the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, which calls the current drug-sentencing scheme well-constructed and well worth preserving., 1 N. Charles St., Suite 1301 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. More than 60% of federal district court judges agree that existing mandatory minimums for all offenses are too high. 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. 4 0 obj Meanwhile, the less culpable little fish are yoked with high mandatory minimums. Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. Launched in 2004, GovTrack helps everyone learn about and track the activities of the United States Congress. This is the one from the 117th Congress. Our burgeoning prison population traces much of its growth to the increasing number and length of certain federal mandatory sentences. But the MORE Act that passed the House in the last Congress the one with criminal retroactivity received only five Republican votes. The bad news is everything else. The bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 would enact a narrower reform, reducing mandatory minimums for certain non-violent drug offenses and making other reforms retroactive. Apr 25, 2023. 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. "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. ), 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. The full list of cosponsors includes:Sens. 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. As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. 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? S. 1013: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 Overview Summary Cosponsors Details Text Study Guide The text of the bill below is as of Mar 25, 2021 (Introduced). And with mid-terms putting all of the House and a third of Senate up for re-election in November and crime rates shooting up, getting legislators on board for criminal justice reform is going to be more challenging. This misguided push by Republicans to win applause from liberals strengthened the hand of radicals like George Soros. 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). Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1013, S. 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. Under current law, a defendant must be in Category I to benefit from the safety valve. Under the new law, if passed, someone could have a serious conviction on their record and still be eligible. Sentencing Commission, the Commission unanimously believes that certain mandatory minimum penalties apply too broadly, are excessively severe, and are applied inconsistently . The bill is cosponsored by ten Democratic senators, including three presidential contenders, making the likelihood it will pass in the Senate virtually zero. First Step adjusted mandatory life in 841(b)(1)(A) to 25 years, and mandatory 20 years in the same subsection to 15 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. 3713 Sentencing Reform Act of 2015. A new law that would reduce drug sentences passed a major Senate hurdle this week with bipartisan support. She thanks Clare Downing, Mikaila Smith, Jaden Lessnick, and Michael Jeung for their tremendous research assistance and Professors Erica Zunkel and Judith Miller for resolutely bending the arc toward justice. He added that if Democrats agree to certain provisions related to law enforcement, that might make it possible to get something done.. 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 titled " S.1013 - A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders.". That deeply flawed legislation reduced sentences for crack dealers and granted early release to some child predators, carjackers, gang members, and bank robbers. If anything here applies to you, contact us today. The, Additionally, the bill corrects a weird anomaly in the, As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. The SSAwould turn the mandatory life sentence into a mandatory minimum of 25 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. By last week, the only hope was for banking reform nothing for federal prisoners but even that was exempted from last weeks giant end-of-year spending bill, the last chance it had for passage. Now what? Would you like to join our advisory group to work with us on the future of GovTrack? Sen. Cotton, a hardline prohibitionist described by Beforeitsnews.com as someone who has never met a drug penalty he thought was too severe, objected. So the climate for criminal justice reform is getting ugly. If youve visited a bill page on GovTrack.us recently, you may have noticed a new study guide tab located just below the bill title. 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. The First Step Act was a critical move in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done to reform our criminal justice system. The important but piecemeal work of criminal justice reform continued last week with two significant bills being introduced in the Senate. |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s1013 At the federal level alone, mandatory minimum penalties form the cornerstone of the human caging system. Along with Durbin and Lee, the bill is cosponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Angus King (I-ME), and Tim Kaine (D-VA). This is part of a new project to develop better tools for bringing real-time legislative data into the classroom. 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. S. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. That should make sentencing changes that much harder, Politico said. 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. }}. In fact, prosecutors bring mandatory minimums65 percent more oftenagainst Black defendants, all else remaining equal. EQUAL, like the marijuana-friendly SAFE Banking Act was proposed as an addition to the catch-all spending package, an effort that Cotton frustrated. The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 indicates that a courier that is found guilty under 960(b)(1)(H) would be subject to a mandatory minimum of 5 years and not more than life (a non-courier would be looking at 10-L) and a courier that is found guilty under 960(b)(2)(H) would be subject to a mandatory minimum of 2 years to life (a non-courier would be looking at 5-L under this section). That means there are other bills with the number S. 2850. Currently, a single misdemeanor in ones background can disqualify the defendant from safety valve consideration. It would be an excellent starting point to developing a less destructive drug-sentencing scheme. April 12, 2021 The Hon. 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. The 113th Congress held several hearing and heard testimony through 2013 and 2014 without passage. endobj |accessdate=May 1, 2023 And starting in 2019 well be tracking Congresss oversight investigations of the executive branch. Lee said, 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.. Sens. Several important reforms from the Smarter Sentencing Act were included in the landmark First Step Act, which was enacted into law in 2018. The Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. Heres how you can help. Because you are a member of panel, your positions on legislation and notes below will be shared with the panel administrators. Download PDF II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1013 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 25, 2021 He has promised clemency reform. 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. Sens. 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.