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. The bill was introduced on July 31, 2013, by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and referred to the Judiciary Committee on October 20, 2013. 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. 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. Durbin, Lee Introduce Smarter Sentencing Act | United States Senate Apr 26, 2023, But presidents still wouldnt be able to move their legal cases to the shows The Peoples Court or Divorce Court. The judge is prohibited from considering that persons individual circumstances or showing mercy. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. And neither is the rumor that everyone will get a sentence cut because of COVID. 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. 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. They become casualties of a process that sets aside proportionality or mercy in favor of increasing the number of convictions. Once, only Sen Tom Cotton (R-Ark) (who calls First Step Trumps biggest mistake) demanded longer sentences. 1013 (117th) 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. 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). It would also replace the same portions in 841(b)(1)(B) from 5 years to two years (100 grams of a mix containing a detectable amount of heroin, 500 grams of cocaine, 28 grams of cocaine base, 1 gram of LSD, 100 kilograms or a mixture of a detectible amount of marijuana, 5 grams of meth or 50 grams of a substance containing meth) and from 10 years to 5 years. GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. All 50 statesand DC also have mandatory minimum sentencing laws. 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. It was clear last summer that the First Step Implementation Act, the Smarter Sentencing Act, the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act (and the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act were going nowhere. 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. The politics are hard to predict: Democrats have one more seat in the Senate, while Republicans will take narrow control of the House. Earlier Version This misguided push by Republicans to win applause from liberals strengthened the hand of radicals like George Soros. x\[o6~GH([8^bpI\';3%9$;v8swM1[x^r.~^\=-/}Urs~.y{HF_i<=Q:=Q dEB$6.Sq[1S\>U!zP$H\(PzA PI`6>Zpozd8E5ztcME}OE#D!V|pvr?~LafR,[|jYm*mr'\N5{wu+3JMnc. 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. Sen. Lee Cosponsors the Smarter Sentencing Act Unfortunately, to convince recalcitrant senators to support it, the retroactivity portions of the law were stripped out. U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for Aug. 10, 2023. 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. 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. Well be in touch. We anticipate that the provisions of the two bills will be blended into a single package by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Schumer bill has been released as a working draft but has yet to be formally introduced. At The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon, we fight aggressively for our clients. Our public interest mission means we will never put our service behind a paywall. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that some crack cocaine offenders sentenced to . 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. (1)in section 102 (21 U.S.C. 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. 224 Dirksen Senate Office Building Sen. Angus King co-sponsors the 'Smarter Sentencing Act' While the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the crack-cocaine disparity bill last year, it has yet to schedule a markup. [7], On March 11, 2014 updates were done. Text for S.1013 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that low-level crack cocaine offenders cannot benefit from a 2018 federal law. (ii)by striking "not be less than 10 years" and inserting "not be less than 5 years"".