Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015

The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 was the re-introduction of the The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013 in which both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate had versions drafted. The House of Representatives version was also known as H.R. 920 and was re-drafted by Raul Labrador, (R-ID) on February 12, 2015. The Senate version of 2015 was known as S. 502 and was drafted by Mike Lee, (R-UT). Similar to the 2013 version, it was legislation focused on reducing the federal prison population and the strain on limited federal resources in the federal prison system. It amends the federal criminal code to direct the court to impose a sentence for certain offenses with discretionary regard to any statuary minimum sentence. It specifies that the most serious offenders be exempt from statuary minimum sentences which caused many of the very longest sentences.

History

The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 was a continued effort from the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013/2014. The Senate version of 2013/2014, called S 1410, was introduced by Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The 113th Congress held several hearing and heard testimony through 2013 and 2014 without passage.

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. The Senate version (S.502) had gained 12 Bi-partisan co-sponsors by late May 2015; the house version (H.R.920) had 43 Bi-partisan co-sponsors by the same date. By the summer recess, H.R.920 had 52 co-sponsors and S. 502 had 12. Both version had been moved to committee for further discussion. The bill's Bi-Partisan support from both the Republican and Democratic parties helped increase its likelihood of moving through committee hearings. Additionally, organizations were behind the bill and actively encouraging its passage. The House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary was the next step in the bill being passed into law. 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.

The United States Sentencing Commission ( www.ussc.gov) prepared a publication called "Life Sentences in the Federal System" in February of 2015. The document discussed the sentencing guidelines causing life sentences to be issued for various types of offenses. 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.

In October of 2015 Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)revised it and used the name, H.R. 3713 Sentencing Reform Act of 2015. Edits include language to define a serious violent felony and reducing the terms on a number of drug offenses. It was proposed to strike ... "mandatory life imprisonment... to ..."not less than 25 years. It also added language making the reforms applicable to past cases. The Senate bill, now named S.2123: Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, was revised by Charles Grassley R-IA. The committees assigned to this bill passed the act by a vote of 15-5 and sent it to the House or Senate as a whole for consideration on October 22, 2015. On November 5, 2015 there was a significant move with the legislation. Both parties and both chambers of Congress agreed to revisions to federal sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimums. The text of the 140 plus bill is available at the Judicial Committee's website, http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/10-01-15%20Sentencing%20Reform%20and%20Corrections%20Act%20-%20Bill%20Text.pdf

Text

The original language in the bill references the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 and specific language detailing certain drug offenses. The original text reduces sentences by about half. As written ... "Sec. 4.Sentencing modifications for certain drug offenses

(a)Controlled Substances Act.—

The Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) is amended— (1)in section 102 (21 U.S.C. 802), by adding at the end the following:

(57)The term “courier” means a defendant whose role in the offense was limited to transporting or storing drugs or money.

and

(2)in section 401(b)(1) (21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1))— (A)in the flush text following clause (viii)—

(i)by striking “10 years or more” and inserting “5 years or more”; (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 (iii)by striking “mandatory term of life imprisonment without release” and inserting “term of imprisonment of not less than 25 years”; and

(B)in the flush text following clause (viii)— (i)by striking “5 years” and inserting “2 years”; and (ii)by striking “not be less than 10 years” and inserting “not be less than 5 years”..."

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.