was the smarter sentencing act 2021 passed

Democrat. But the MORE Act that passed the House in the last Congress the one with criminal retroactivity received only five Republican votes. Florida experienced a50 percent spikein crimeafterenacting mandatory minimums. And there is no 65% Bill. I will keep fighting to get this commonsense, bipartisan legislation through the Senate with my colleague, Senator Lee.. . 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. 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. 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. Sentencing Reform: Smarter Sentencing Act (@SentencingR - Twitter Were collecting the statements of stakeholder organizations. It might have even set a record. Letter to Sens Charles Schumer and Mitch McConnell (September 2, 2021), Washington Examiner, Biden promised to address over-incarceration. 4.Sentencing modifications for certain drug offenses. It also provides a retroactivity provision for the court to impose a reduced sentence for those sentenced before this act gets signed after considering the 3553(a) factors. Richard Durbin U.S. Senate 711 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Hon. 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. The clocks running out. They become casualties of a process that sets aside proportionality or mercy in favor of increasing the number of convictions. A 65% bill would stand a chance of passage approaching zero. While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the. PDF April 12, 2021 The Hon. Richard Durbin Washington, D.C. 20510 If you can, please take a few minutes to help us improve GovTrack for users like you. The current version of the Smarter Sentencing Act gives federal judges the authority to conduct individualized reviews to determine the appropriate sentences for certain nonviolent drug offenses, Durbin said in a press release. Meanwhile, the less culpable little fish are yoked with high mandatory minimums. Sen. Cotton, a hardline prohibitionist described by Beforeitsnews.com as someone who has never met a drug penalty he thought was too severe, objected. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. We hope to make GovTrack more useful to policy professionals like you. Your email address will not be published. Esta pgina no est disponible en espaol. The disparity has been diluted by Congress over the last decade the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act reformed the disparity to be 18 to 1 instead of 100 to 1, and the 2018 First Step Act made the . endobj }}. endobj That should make sentencing changes that much harder, Politico said. Sure, the publics thirst for vengeance is slaked by such toughness. Bupkis. Either MOREor CAOA would have been good for prisoners, but Democratic leaderships push of an alternative bill diluted the groundswell of support needed to get MORE passed. Our public interest mission means we will never put our service behind a paywall. Both parties and both chambers of Congress agreed to revisions to federal sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimums. The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. The bipartisan bill introduction was led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). 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. 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). Posted by: Elisia | Mar 26, 2021 5:35:17 PM. Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. stream What the current version contains is unclear, because the text of the proposed bill has not yet been released. 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. The Smarter Sentencing Act promotes the value of proportional punishment by addressing excessive sentences for those convicted of federal drug offenses. You recall that in Terry v. United States last June, the Supreme Court held that Section 404 did not qualify pre-2010 crack sentences for sentence reduction. This bill was introduced in the 116 th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. The Smarter Sentencing Act: Achieving Fairness Through Financially Responsible Federal Sentencing Policies, 48 J. Marshall L. Rev. Other problems flow from this perversion of the power balance. 4 0 obj Help us develop the tools to bring real-time legislative data into the classroom. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, andsentencing issues. That is, if a prosecutor charges someone with a 20-year mandatory minimum at the outset of a case and that person is found guilty, the judge not only has no power to change the charge, but is legally bound to put that person in prison for at least 20 years regardless of whether they were a leader or a lackey. This page is sourced primarily from 1 0 obj 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. 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. S.1014 applies the same serious drug felony definition to all three subsections. 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. 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. 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. The Case For the Smarter Sentencing Act - The Heritage Foundation However, despite bipartisan support for both bills, Senate Republicans shot them down, but with plenty of help from Senate Democrats and the Biden Administration. 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. |publisher=GovTrack.us You are encouraged to reuse any material on this site. 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. 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. When she did introduce it, the bill never even got a committee hearing. 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. Consequently, the least culpable players incur severe punishments, while the most culpable leverage their knowledge into lenient plea deals. The bill continued to gain momentum in the Senate and House. The judge is prohibited from considering that persons individual circumstances or showing mercy. |date=March 25, 2021 She previously served as an attorney with the Federal Defender Program in Chicago. Visit us on Mastodon 3617), or for that matter anything else. 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. The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 was a continued effort from the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013/2014. 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. Attempts to stitch up the tattered old paradigm are futile and will not eradicate the spreading stain of racial inequity. May 1, 2023 . Some of the Smarter Sentencing Act provisions echo those of the Sentence Reform and Corrections Act of 2017, introduced two days earlier. The bad news is everything else. |title=S. 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 . The Senate bill, now named S.2123: Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, was revised by Charles Grassley R-IA. S. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. Unfortunately, to convince recalcitrant senators to support it, the retroactivity portions of the law were stripped out. The sheer number of motions likely to be filed might be enough to give Congress pause on this one. 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). That deeply flawed legislation reduced sentences for crack dealers and granted early release to some child predators, carjackers, gang members, and bank robbers. 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. If the Democrats fail to take advantage of the political opportunity in front of them, Forbes said last week, they risk ceding this issue to the Republicans if and when they take back control of Congress, possibly as soon as next year. 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. Text - S.1013 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Smarter Sentencing Act of 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. 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 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. %PDF-1.5 EQUAL, like the marijuana-friendly SAFE Banking Act was proposed as an addition to the catch-all spending package, an effort that Cotton frustrated. Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. 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 American people deserve better.. Sens. (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 The SSAwould turn the mandatory life sentence into a mandatory minimum of 25 years. 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. <>>> "Sec. is amended In 2018, Republicans passed the pro-criminal First Step Act. 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. The SSA would cut the mandatory minimums applicable to couriers by half. People like Cottonmake even common-sense federal criminal justice reform a hard sell. To dismantle Americas dehumanizing and racially skewedhuman cagingsystem, we must eliminate mandatory minimums. 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. Also, last years SSA reduced mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses specified in 21 USC 841(b)(1)(A) and (b)(1)(B): from 10 years to 5 years for a first-time high-level offense (e.g., one kilogram or more of heroin). Over the last 12 months, politicians hsome steps to advance justice reform. In 1970, Congress repealed most drug-related mandatory minimums, taking more of apublic health approachto drug policy. Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. 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. 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). The Justice Roundtable, Durbin, Lee Reintroduce Smarter Sentencing Act (Nov. 16). Smarter Sentencing Act of 2019 (2019 - S. 2850) - GovTrack.us At the same time, Durbin and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced S.1014, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). In some cases, the new minimums would apply retroactively, giving some people currently in prison on drug offenses a new sentence. The November 2015 edits additional safe guards from releasing repeat, violent offenders and applied retroactivity to sentences. 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. In contrast, studies show that shorter sentences in drug casesneither diminish public safetynorincrease drug abuse. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed. And starting in 2019 well be tracking Congresss oversight investigations of the executive branch. Additionally, last years SSA made existing mandatory minimums inapplicable to a defendant who functions a courier; andestablishes new, shorter mandatory minimum prison terms for a courier. That gives it a fighting chance of passing in todays barely Democrat-controlled Congress.. (9 Democrats, 2 Independents, 2 Republicans). 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. As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. 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. 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. Apr 26, 2023, But presidents still wouldnt be able to move their legal cases to the shows The Peoples Court or Divorce Court. Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (CSIEA) to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, possessing, importing, or exporting specified controlled substances. District of Massachusetts | Rhode Island Man Pleads Guilty to |work=Legislation This misguided push by Republicans to win applause from liberals strengthened the hand of radicals like George Soros. 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. It also added language making the reforms applicable to past cases. (2023). 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). 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 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. The confusion was compounded because we were unable to locate a draft of theSmarter Sentencing Act of 2017 anywhere over the next 10 days. 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. We are grateful to the sponsors for recognizing that this needed reform should apply to those currently serving excessive sentences.. The Smarter Sentencing Act also adds a courier exception to the importation statute of 21 usc 960, the importation statute. The EQUAL Act would finally close the cocaine sentencing disparity - Vox FAMMs focus on ending a one-size-fits-all punishment structure has led to reforms to sentencing and prison policies at the state and federal level and is paving the way to programs that support rehabilitation for the 94% of all prisoners who will return to our neighborhoods one day. Alexander was charged and arrested in November 2021. And our overreliance on prisons makes us less safe bydiverting resourcesfrom other critical public safety needs. 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. An online version of this release can be found, Sen. Lee Cosponsors the Smarter Sentencing Act. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute, striving to uphold the values of democracy. 3382) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it gained cosponsors from both parties. 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 bill is cosponsored by ten Democratic senators, including three presidential contenders, making the likelihood it will pass in the Senate virtually zero. As for marijuana, the Senates failure to act comes as a repudiation of Bidens efforts for pot reform. Youve cast your vote. As long time followers will note, we have been covering the introduction of the Smarter Sentencing Act since 2015. 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. However, Durbins office said the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.. 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. 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). 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. 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 bills titles are written by its sponsor. 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.

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