To amend title 18, United States Code, to authorize a court to reduce the term of imprisonment imposed on certain defendants convicted as an adult for an offense committed and completed before the defendant attained 18 years of age, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1951 To amend title 18, United States Code, to authorize a court to reduce the term of imprisonment imposed on certain defendants convicted as an adult for an offense committed and completed before the defendant attained 18 years of age, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 28, 2019 Mr. WESTERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to authorize a court to reduce the term of imprisonment imposed on certain defendants convicted as an adult for an offense com- mitted and completed before the defendant attained 18 years of age, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. PAROLE FOR JUVENILES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 403 of title 18, United 4 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 5032 5 the following: 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1951 IH ‘‘§ 5032A. Modification of an imposed term of impris- 1 onment for violations of law committed 2 prior to age 18 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro- 4 vision of law, a court may reduce a term of imprisonment 5 imposed upon a defendant convicted as an adult for an 6 offense committed and completed before the defendant at- 7 tained 18 years of age if— 8 ‘‘(1) the defendant has served not less than 20 9 years in custody for the offense; and 10 ‘‘(2) the court finds, after considering the fac- 11 tors set forth in subsection (c), that the defendant 12 is not a danger to the safety of any person or the 13 community and that the interests of justice warrant 14 a sentence modification. 15 ‘‘(b) SUPERVISED RELEASE.—Any defendant whose 16 sentence is reduced pursuant to subsection (a) shall be or- 17 dered to serve a period of supervised release of not less 18 than 5 years following release from imprisonment. The 19 conditions of supervised release and any modification or 20 revocation of the term of supervised release shall be in 21 accordance with section 3583. 22 ‘‘(c) FACTORS AND INFORMATION TO BE CONSID- 23 ERED IN DETERMINING WHETHER TO MODIFY A TERM 24 OF IMPRISONMENT.—The court, in determining whether 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1951 IH to reduce a term of imprisonment pursuant to subsection 1 (a), shall consider— 2 ‘‘(1) the factors described in section 3553(a), 3 including the nature of the offense and the history 4 and characteristics of the defendant; 5 ‘‘(2) the age of the defendant at the time of the 6 offense; 7 ‘‘(3) a report and recommendation of the Bu- 8 reau of Prisons, including information on whether 9 the defendant has substantially complied with the 10 rules of each institution in which the defendant has 11 been confined and whether the defendant has com- 12 pleted any educational, vocational, or other prison 13 program, where available; 14 ‘‘(4) a report and recommendation of the 15 United States attorney for any district in which an 16 offense for which the defendant is imprisoned was 17 prosecuted; 18 ‘‘(5) whether the defendant has demonstrated 19 maturity, rehabilitation, and a fitness to reenter so- 20 ciety sufficient to justify a sentence reduction; 21 ‘‘(6) any statement, which may be presented 22 orally or otherwise, by any victim of an offense for 23 which the defendant is imprisoned or by a family 24 member of the victim if the victim is deceased; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1951 IH ‘‘(7) any report from a physical, mental, or psy- 1 chiatric examination of the defendant conducted by 2 a licensed health care professional; 3 ‘‘(8) the family and community circumstances 4 of the defendant at the time of the offense, including 5 any history of abuse, trauma, or involvement in the 6 child welfare system; 7 ‘‘(9) the extent of the role of the defendant in 8 the offense and whether, and to what extent, an 9 adult was involved in the offense; 10 ‘‘(10) the diminished culpability of juveniles as 11 compared to that of adults, and the hallmark fea- 12 tures of youth, including immaturity, impetuosity, 13 and failure to appreciate risks and consequences, 14 which counsel against sentencing juveniles to the 15 otherwise applicable term of imprisonment; and 16 ‘‘(11) any other information the court deter- 17 mines relevant to the decision of the court. 18 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON APPLICATIONS PURSUANT TO 19 THIS SECTION.— 20 ‘‘(1) SECOND APPLICATION.—Not earlier than 21 5 years after the date on which an order entered by 22 a court on an initial application under this section 23 becomes final, a court shall entertain a second appli- 24 cation by the same defendant under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1951 IH ‘‘(2) FINAL APPLICATION.—Not earlier than 5 1 years after the date on which an order entered by 2 a court on a second application under paragraph (1) 3 becomes final, a court shall entertain a final applica- 4 tion by the same defendant under this section. 5 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—A court may not entertain 6 an application filed after an application filed under 7 paragraph (2) by the same defendant. 8 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.— 9 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—The Bureau of Prisons shall 10 provide written notice of this section to— 11 ‘‘(A) any defendant who has served not 12 less than 19 years in prison for an offense com- 13 mitted and completed before the defendant at- 14 tained 18 years of age for which the defendant 15 was convicted as an adult; and 16 ‘‘(B) the sentencing court, the United 17 States attorney, and the Federal Public De- 18 fender or Executive Director of the Community 19 Defender Organization for the judicial district 20 in which the sentence described in subpara- 21 graph (A) was imposed. 22 ‘‘(2) CRIME VICTIMS RIGHTS.—Upon receiving 23 notice under paragraph (1), the United States attor- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1951 IH ney shall provide any notifications required under 1 section 3771. 2 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An application for a 4 sentence reduction under this section shall be 5 filed as a motion to reduce the sentence of the 6 defendant and may include affidavits or other 7 written material. 8 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—A motion to reduce 9 a sentence under this section shall be filed with 10 the sentencing court and a copy shall be served 11 on the United States attorney for the judicial 12 district in which the sentence was imposed. 13 ‘‘(4) EXPANDING THE RECORD; HEARING.— 14 ‘‘(A) EXPANDING THE RECORD.—After the 15 filing of a motion to reduce a sentence under 16 this section, the court may direct the parties to 17 expand the record by submitting additional 18 written materials relating to the motion. 19 ‘‘(B) HEARING.— 20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The court shall 21 conduct a hearing on the motion, at which 22 the defendant and counsel for the defend- 23 ant shall be given the opportunity to be 24 heard. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1951 IH ‘‘(ii) EVIDENCE.—In a hearing under 1 this section, the court may allow parties to 2 present evidence. 3 ‘‘(iii) DEFENDANT’S PRESENCE.—At 4 a hearing under this section, the defendant 5 shall be present unless the defendant 6 waives the right to be present. The re- 7 quirement under this clause may be satis- 8 fied by the defendant appearing by video 9 teleconference. 10 ‘‘(iv) COUNSEL.—A defendant who is 11 unable to obtain counsel is entitled to have 12 counsel appointed to represent the defend- 13 ant for proceedings under this section, in- 14 cluding any appeal, unless the defendant 15 waives the right to counsel. 16 ‘‘(v) FINDINGS.—The court shall state 17 in open court, and file in writing, the rea- 18 sons for granting or denying a motion 19 under this section. 20 ‘‘(C) APPEAL.—The Government or the 21 defendant may file a notice of appeal in the dis- 22 trict court for review of a final order under this 23 section. The time limit for filing such appeal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1951 IH shall be governed by rule 4(a) of the Federal 1 Rules of Appellate Procedure. 2 ‘‘(f) EDUCATIONAL AND REHABILITATIVE PRO- 3 GRAMS.—A defendant who is convicted and sentenced as 4 an adult for an offense committed and completed before 5 the defendant attained 18 years of age may not be de- 6 prived of any educational, training, or rehabilitative pro- 7 gram that is otherwise available to the general prison pop- 8 ulation.’’. 9 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections for 10 chapter 403 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 11 by inserting after the item relating to section 5032 the 12 following: 13 ‘‘5032A. Modification of an imposed term of imprisonment for violations of law committed prior to age 18.’’. (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 14 section shall apply to any conviction entered before, on, 15 or after the date of enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS