3382) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it gained cosponsors from both parties. The hearings and testimony that occurred in 2013 in relation to the 2013 version continued to be on record and in support of the 2015 version. Attempts to stitch up the tattered old paradigm are futile and will not eradicate the spreading stain of racial inequity. This essay is part of the Brennan Centers series examining the punitive excess that has come to define Americas criminal legal system. 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. [1] In fact, prosecutors bring mandatory minimums65 percent more oftenagainst Black defendants, all else remaining equal. Sens. In 2018, Republicans passed the pro-criminal First Step Act. (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. 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. Bills numbers restart every two years. 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. Instead, we need a paradigm shift. Racial disparities in the application of mandatory minimums are a particularly stark illustration of Wilkersons thesis. Letter to Sens Charles Schumer and Mitch McConnell (September 2, 2021), Washington Examiner, Biden promised to address over-incarceration. 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). This is the one from the 116 th 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. 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. Congress should pass the EQUALAct to ensure these penalties are equalized and fairness is restored to criminal sentencing.C. We love educating Americans about how their government works too! The decision was unanimous by the Commission in favor of the reductions which impacts potentially 70% of the drug offense prison population. [7], On March 11, 2014 updates were done. 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. S. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. Since 1980, the number of inmates in federal prison has increased by 653%. The, Additionally, the bill corrects a weird anomaly in the, As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. Finally, mandatory minimums do not promote community safety. With boththe House nor Senate closed for aChristmas-Passover-Kwanzaa-New Years vacation until next Tuesday, the 117thCongress is done. 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. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). The bill did not have any further action in the legislative season as was re-introduced as the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 (or S502) by Republican Senator of Utah Mike Lee. 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. 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 . Paradoxically, by criticizing arbitrary sentencing practices, these reformers (chief among them, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts) ultimately helped usher in the current tough-on-crime era. Indeed, there are thousands of Americans still serving draconian sentences authorized by some of then-Sen. Bidens bills., Meanwhile, a piece in the Deseret News made the conservative argument for the EQUAL Act, which would retroactively make crack cocaine sentencing levels equal to those of powder cocaine: The EQUAL Act already passed through the U.S. House Judiciary Committee with a vote of 36-5, garnering support from both sides of the aisle. 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. Its the legislative equivalent to taking a knee in the final minute of a football game. 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. 911 (2015) Colleen Shannon Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.uic.edu/lawreview Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, and the Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons In short, federal incarceration has become one of our nations biggest expenditures, dwarfing the amount spent on law enforcement. Alexander was charged and arrested in November 2021. The only question is when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring it up for a vote. The 10-year mandatory minimum (for 1 kilo or more of heroin or five kilos or more of cocaine) would drop to five years. . 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. Under the SSA, a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence would become 5 years, 20 years would become 10 years, five years would become two years. endobj 2 0 obj 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.. Request that they cosponsor the Smarter Sentencing Act! As for marijuana, the Senates failure to act comes as a repudiation of Bidens efforts for pot reform. 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. Richard Durbin U.S. Senate 711 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Hon. That gives it a fighting chance of passing in todays barely Democrat-controlled Congress.. 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. If anything here applies to you, contact us today. It would do so in three ways: First, it would expand eligibility for the drug safety valve so that people with some criminal history up to Guidelines Category II would still be eligible. The American people deserve better.. cutting mandatory minimums in 21 USC 960 for drug mules carrying drugs into the country courier in half. We all had high hopes for criminal justice reform when President Biden took the White House, and the Democrats won control of the House and Senate. (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. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss. 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). 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. Apr 25, 2023. What the current version contains is unclear, because the text of the proposed bill has not yet been released. The House of Representatives version, known as HR920, was re-introduced by Idaho Republican Raul Labrador in February 2015. Lee and Durbin first introduced theSmarter Sentencing Actin 2013. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law. 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. President Biden and his attorney general havedenounced mandatory minimums, as did former Attorney General Eric Holder. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. 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. To dismantle Americas dehumanizing and racially skewedhuman cagingsystem, we must eliminate mandatory minimums. Inflexible, harsh sentences exacerbate crime and racial disparities alike. 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). The House just passed Sen. Cory BookersEQUAL Actby a bipartisan vote, withthe Biden administrations endorsement. "Reducing the federal prison population has become urgent, with that population almost three times where it was in 1991.". |quote=Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 Baltimore, MD 21201 For prompt, courteous and skilled representation as your federal criminal defense attorney, contact us today to schedule a free phone consultation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that some crack cocaine offenders sentenced to . 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 Bill: If passed, the Smarter Sentencing Act would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking and some drug importation offenses. FAX: 410-934-3208. 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. 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. rooms for rent in brooklyn 300 a month,