was the smarter sentencing act 2021 passed

was the smarter sentencing act 2021 passed

Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. Posted by: Elisia | Mar 26, 2021 5:35:17 PM. endobj 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.. 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. Chuck Grassley U.S. Senate 135 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley: We are writing to urge you to advance the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill that promotes 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. The term 'courier' means a defendant whose role in the offense was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money.''. The Smarter Sentencing Act promotes the value of proportional punishment by addressing excessive sentences for those convicted of federal drug offenses. Congressmen Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Raul Labrador (R-ID) introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act (H.R. Any of these reforms would be a step toward establishing a new paradigm that abjures mandatory minimums and respects human dignity. . 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. 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. Over the last 12 months, politicians hsome steps to advance justice reform. If anything here applies to you, contact us today. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 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. The November 2015 edits additional safe guards from releasing repeat, violent offenders and applied retroactivity to sentences. Copyright 2016-Present The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon. The First Step Act incorporated the life-to-25 year and the 20-to-15 year reductions, but not the remainders. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law. 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. Several important reforms from theSmarter Sentencing Actwere included in the landmark First Step Act, which was enacted into law in 2018. |title=S. Washington, DC 20510 Your email address will not be published. The Schumer bill has been released as a working draft but has yet to be formally introduced. 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). His legislative record is riddled with bills he supported, and sometimes wrote, that filled BOP cells and encouraged states to do the same. 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. And we will start all over again, but with a much unfriendlier House of Representatives. [3] The House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary was the next step in the bill being passed into law. S.1933, Smarter Sentencing Act of 2017 (introduced Oct. 5, 2017), 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. 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. 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 . It faces another battle to pass through the rest of Congress, and Utahs delegation should be there to vote in support. 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 central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. 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. 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. To dismantle Americas dehumanizing and racially skewedhuman cagingsystem, we must eliminate mandatory minimums. Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. (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 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. "Bill Summary: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021", "Democrats and Republicans in Congress Actually Found Something to Agree on", "S. 502 / H.R. Request that they cosponsor the Smarter Sentencing Act! TheFirst Step Actwas a critical move in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done to reform our criminal justice system. 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. Youre more than a vote, so support GovTrack today with a tip of any amount: Or keep using GovTrack for free! Preventive monitoring of conditions in American prisons can help shine a light on what needs to change. The problem is that most bills spend months in committee with no movement, or they pass inthe House only to the Senate before dying out. If you teach United States government and would like to speak with us about bringing legislative data into your classroom, please reach out! 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. 841(b)(1)(A) and (b)(1)(B). Attempts to stitch up the tattered old paradigm are futile and will not eradicate the spreading stain of racial inequity. ), 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. Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. 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. I will keep fighting to get this commonsense, bipartisan legislation through the Senate with my colleague, Senator Lee.. Congress should pass the EQUALAct to ensure these penalties are equalized and fairness is restored to criminal sentencing.C. 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. Prisons in Northern Europe are actually supportive, and they see lower rates of violence and recidivism. Join 10 million other Americans using GovTrack to learn about and contact your representative and senators and track what Congress is doing each day. In October 2015 Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)revised it and used the name, H.R. Any bill introduced in the 117th Congress which began in January 2021 will stick around until the 117th expires a year from today. 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). Heres how you can help. For Media Inquiries: The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. In the House, the EQUAL Act is the only criminal justice bill voted out of committee. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11of their colleagues. Please sign up for our advisory group to be a part of making GovTrack a better tool for what you do. the need to reduce and prevent racial disparities in sentencing. Lee and Durbin first introduced theSmarter Sentencing Actin 2013. Aimed at reducing the disparity in sentencing for crack versus powder cocaine offenses by making crack and powder sentences the same, it would have benefitted thousands of prisoners with retroactive relief. Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, S. 1013, 117th Cong.. {{cite web 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). The Brennan Center works to reform and defend our countrys systems of democracy and justice. "Reducing the federal prison population has become urgent, with that population almost three times where it was in 1991.". The original text reduces sentences by about half. The defendants in crack cases were overwhelmingly black. FAMM Baltimore, MD 21201 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. 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. Currently, the Byzantine sentencing regime in 21 USC 841(b) provides differing levels of mandatory minimum sentences for various quantities of different drugs, various number of prior drug felonies, and whether death or serious injury resulted from the drug dealing. The, Additionally, the bill corrects a weird anomaly in the, As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. 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. Federal Criminal Cooperation (Rule 3553 and the Safety Valve), Federal Halfway Houses and Home Confinement, Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions. 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.. 2021. If it did exist, it wouldnt get one now. This is unfortunate because Garland has real power to reduce racialized mass incarceration. 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. Help us develop the tools to bring real-time legislative data into the classroom. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed. Last week, mainstream Newsweek magazine ran an opinion piece claiming that America, in the year 2022, does not suffer from an over-incarceration problem. The full list of cosponsors includes:Sens. Senate aides on both sides of the aisle warn that EQUAL could still face a challenging path to final passage, including a potentially arduous debate over amendments. The Smarter Sentencing Act also adds a courier exception to the importation statute of 21 usc 960, the importation statute. 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. At the same time, Durbin and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced S.1014, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021. Highlights of the measure include. And there is no 65% Bill. It would return to judges some of the vital discretion they need to provide more individualized sentencing and enable many people convicted of low-level offenses to return home to their families much sooner. <>>> This change was incorporated into the First Step Act. FAMM vice president Molly Gill wants to see the EQUAL Act reintroduced next session. 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. 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.

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