The U.S. Senate Remains Focused on Sentencing Reform legislation

摘要

On January 30,2014, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary approved an amended version of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014, S. 1410, by a vote of 13:5. The bill, cosponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Mike Lee (R-UT), would expand the existing federal "safety valve" to allow federal judges to reduce the mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug-related offenders that have no more than two criminal history points. Offenders in this two-point category would be entirely disqualified from safety valve eligibility if they have any prior conviction for an offense involving an element of the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against another person; a firearm offense; a sex offense; a federal crime of terrorism; a racketeering offense; or conspiring to use and invest illicit drug profits.