We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

SMARTER SENTENCING ACT RE-INTRODUCED IN SENATE

The Smarter Sentencing Act, a bill intended to further reduce drug mandatory minimum sentences, was reintroduced in the Senate last week by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As of the date of this report, we have no bill number to associate with the legislation.

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. What the current version contains is unclear, because the text of the proposed bill has not yet been released. However, Durbin’s office said “the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.”

In the last iteration of the bill, S.1933 (115th Congress, 2017-18), the bill proposed an expanded “safety valve” under 18 USC § 3553(f) to allow a court to impose a sentence below the statutory mandatory minimum for an otherwise eligible drug offender who has three or fewer criminal history points. This change was incorporated into the First Step Act. Also, last year’s 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),

•  from 20 years to 10 years for a high-level offense after one prior felony drug offense,

•  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

•  from 10 years to 5 years for a low-level offense after one prior felony drug offense.

The First Step Act incorporated the life-to-25 year and the 20-to-15 year reductions, but not the remainders.

Additionally, last year’s SSA made existing mandatory minimums inapplicable to a defendant who functions a courier; and establishes new, shorter mandatory minimum prison terms for a courier.

The current version of the Smarter Sentencing Act “gives federal judges the authority to conduct individualized reviews to determine the appropriate sentences for certain nonviolent drug offenses,” Durbin said in a press release.

Lee said, “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.”

The bill is cosponsored by ten Democratic senators, including three presidential contenders, making the likelihood it will pass in the Senate virtually zero.

The Justice Roundtable, Durbin, Lee Reintroduce Smarter Sentencing Act (Nov. 16)

– Thomas L. Root