was the smarter sentencing act 2021 passed

Meanwhile, S.1014 the First Step Implementation Act is equally significant. Congress should pass the EQUALAct to ensure these penalties are equalized and fairness is restored to criminal sentencing.C. Washington, DC 20510 "Sec. The SSA would cut the mandatory minimums applicable to couriers by half. 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. By June 2014, 25 co-sponsoring Senators (17 Democrat, 6 Republican and 2 Independent) joined to show their support. 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 It would be an excellent starting point to developing a less destructive drug-sentencing scheme. 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. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute, striving to uphold the values of democracy. 2021. Esta pgina no est disponible en espaol. Youve cast your vote. On November 5, 2015 there was a significant move with the legislation. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law. Zip. 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. The bill would also apply these changes retroactively, giving people currently in prison an opportunity to receive a new sentence under the reformed law. Apr 26, 2023, But presidents still wouldnt be able to move their legal cases to the shows The Peoples Court or Divorce Court. 801 et seq.) The mandatory minimum for a courier under 21 USC 960, the importation statute, would essentially be cut in half. The Smarter Sentencing Act ( S. 1013) is a bill in the United States Senate that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for some federal drug offenses. Long sentences also make it more difficult for people to reintegrate into society. Your poor, dumb peasant from El Cocador humping marijuana across the border or clueless young woman flying in to JFK from East Slobovia with heroin in the liner of her suitcase These are the couriers, the lowest of the low-level defendant being paid maybe two shekels for hauling someone elses big score. 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. This is unfortunate because Garland has real power to reduce racialized mass incarceration. Congress first enacted mandatory minimums for drug offensesin the early 20th century. As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. That means that the reform bills now in front of Congress still have a chance. 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. Join 10 million other Americans using GovTrack to learn about and contact your representative and senators and track what Congress is doing each day. SmarterSentencing would also create a new category of `courier for a defendant whose role was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money. The SSAwould turn the mandatory life sentence into a mandatory minimum of 25 years. 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. Thus, a crack defendant sentenced August 3, 2009, was hammered with the 100:1 ratio, while a defendant sentenced August 3, 2010, was treated more in line with what a cocaine powder defendant would face. The term 'courier' means a defendant whose role in the offense was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money.''. Until that happens, we will support any and all steps to reduce and reform them, including this great bill. 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. . Copyright 2016-Present The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon. [3] The House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary was the next step in the bill being passed into law. FAMM is a national nonpartisan advocacy organization that promotes fair and effective criminal justice policies that safeguard taxpayer dollars and keep our communities safe. I pray something is passed. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. As a result, drug sentences which are driven by the amount of drug involved in the crime soared. Prisons in Northern Europe are actually supportive, and they see lower rates of violence and recidivism. The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 was a continued effort from the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013/2014. More than 60% of federal district court judges agree that existing mandatory minimums for all offenses are too high. 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. We are experienced, and know what it takes to present a successful defense in a federal criminal case. 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). Senior Senator for Illinois. Biden did issue an executive order canceling contracts with private prison operators, a nice change for the 14,000 people in those joints. While some lonely voices are calling for passage of such a bill, with Democrats in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, expect a cacophony of Republicans claims that Democrats are to blame for rising crime rates. 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. However, Durbins office said the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.. 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. Unfortunately, to convince recalcitrant senators to support it, the retroactivity portions of the law were stripped out. The year 2021 was widely seen as the end of a dark era and the beginning of a brighter one. 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. 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. 3382) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it gained cosponsors from both parties. 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. endobj The original text reduces sentences by about half. This bill would eliminate the crack/powder disparity that results in longer mandatory minimum sentences for Black Americans; but it would not end mandatory minimums. Introduced, on this bill on a six-point scale from strongly oppose to strongly support. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that implementation of this provision would save taxpayers approximately $3 billion over ten years. 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. Under the proposed change, a couple of felonies will be too much, but more young defendants facing their first serious criminal charge would be sentenced under a scheme that let the judge weigh individual factors rather than applying an inflexible and harsh minimum sentence. No floor votes have been scheduled for any bills. The MOREAct would have allowed cannabis companies to open bank accounts and would have retroactively permitted changes in pot-based sentences. "Reducing the federal prison population has become urgent, with that population almost three times where it was in 1991.". 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. 13 Cosponsors 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). 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. 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? For prompt, courteous and skilled representation as your federal criminal defense attorney, contact us today to schedule a free phone consultation. And there is reason to think it might succeed: it has support from the full range of the political spectrum, from Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul to Democratic stalwart Sen. Carl Levin. In October, the president pardoned thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana possession (although no one pardoned was in federal prison) and said his administration would review how the drug is categorized. And there is no 65% Bill. Still, EQUAL had a chance until Sen Tom Cotton (RAR) single-handedly stopped the Senate from considering the bill last Wednesday. While Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee(D-Texas) has introduced such a bill in a number of previous sessions of Congress since 2001, there is no such bill in the hopper now. It was the end of 2020. ), 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. Rabiah Burks, 202-822-6700 <> 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. 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. 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. First, a letter sent last week by 25 state attorneys general to House and Senate leadership, urging an expansion of Section 404 of the First Step Act to include people sentenced under 21 USC 841(b)(1)(C). 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. Your email address will not be published. Congress was recessed all last week and for part of this one, so no legislative progress was made on the EQUAL Act (S.79), the MORE Act (H.R.

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