Second Look Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2146 To enable incarcerated persons to petition a Federal court for a second look at sentences longer than 10 years, where the person is not a danger to the safety of any person or the community, and has shown they are ready for reentry, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 17, 2019 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To enable incarcerated persons to petition a Federal court for a second look at sentences longer than 10 years, where the person is not a danger to the safety of any person or the community, and has shown they are ready for reentry, 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. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Second Look Act of 4 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:26 Jul 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2146 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 (a) FINDINGS RELATED TO THE UNITED STATES 2 CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.—Congress finds the fol- 3 lowing: 4 (1) Although the United States has less than 5 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States 6 holds approximately 21 percent of the world’s pris- 7 oners and leads the world in the number of individ- 8 uals incarcerated, with nearly 2,200,000 people in- 9 carcerated in State and Federal prisons and local 10 jails. 11 (2) The prison population of the United States 12 has increased by 500 percent over a 40-year period 13 preceding the date of enactment of this Act. 14 (3) The United States incarcerates citizens of 15 the United States at 5 to 10 times the rate of other 16 industrialized nations. 17 (4) The face of incarceration in the United 18 States is not exclusively male. Although only 5 per- 19 cent of the women in the world live in the United 20 States, the United States houses 30 percent of the 21 world’s incarcerated women. 22 (5) The growth of the incarceration of women 23 in the United States has outpaced that of men by 24 nearly 2-to-1, growing nearly 800 percent between 25 1978 and 2014. Eighty percent of incarcerated 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2146 IS women are mothers and most are the primary care- 1 takers for their children. 2 (6) The overall prison population of the United 3 States in 2017 declined by 7.3 percent since reach- 4 ing a peak level in 2009, but at the current rate of 5 decline it would take until 2091 (72 years) to cut 6 the prison population in the United States in half. 7 (7) Nearly half of the United States Federal 8 prison population in 2017 was incarcerated for a 9 drug trafficking offense. 10 (b) FINDINGS RELATED TO THE NEED FOR A SEC- 11 OND LOOK.—Congress finds the following: 12 (1) Congress finds that a second look at the 13 sentences for incarcerated individuals is needed. 14 (2) Life sentences of imprisonment and long 15 sentences without the possibility of review violate 16 human rights standards. 17 (3) One out of 9 incarcerated individuals is cur- 18 rently serving a life sentence, nearly one-third of 19 whom are sentenced to life without parole. One out 20 of every 15 women in prison, nearly 7,000 women, 21 is serving a life or virtual life sentence. 22 (4) In 2016, 161,957 people were serving a life 23 sentence and 53,290 people were serving life without 24 parole in the United States, compared to a total of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2146 IS 50 people serving a life sentence without the possi- 1 bility of release in the United Kingdom. 2 (5) Mandatory minimum penalties continue to 3 result in long sentences in the Federal system, as of 4 2016— 5 (A) 55.7 percent of the Federal prison 6 population had been sentenced under a manda- 7 tory minimum provision; 8 (B) the average sentence length for indi- 9 viduals who were convicted of an offense car- 10 rying a mandatory minimum penalty was 110 11 months of imprisonment; and 12 (C) more than two-thirds of Federal pris- 13 oners serving life or virtual life sentences have 14 been convicted of nonviolent crimes, including 15 30 percent for a drug crime. 16 (6) Among those individuals serving life without 17 parole sentences, 49.1 percent have been convicted 18 of a drug related crime. 19 (7) The United States has much more punitive 20 sentencing laws than the rest of the world, as— 21 (A) sentence lengths in most European 22 countries rarely exceed 20 years; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2146 IS (B) Norway abolished life sentences in 1 1981 and under Norwegian law, the maximum 2 prison term is 21 years; 3 (C) in Denmark and Sweden, individuals 4 serving life sentences can be released after 12 5 years and 18 years of imprisonment, respec- 6 tively; and 7 (D) in Latin America, only 6 out of 19 8 countries maintain statutes that allow life im- 9 prisonment. 10 (8) With the abolition of parole under the Sen- 11 tencing Reform Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–473; 12 98 Stat. 1987), there are extremely limited options 13 for review of Federal sentences, which differs greatly 14 from the rest of the world, as— 15 (A) Belgium requires a parole review of life 16 sentences after 10 years; 17 (B) Germany requires a parole review of 18 life sentences after 15 years; and 19 (C) the International Criminal Court re- 20 quires a parole review of life sentences after 25 21 years. 22 (9) An incarcerated individual should not be 23 precluded from receiving a second look review of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2146 IS their sentence because of ‘‘the nature of the crime’’ 1 for which the individual was convicted, as— 2 (A) individuals age out of crime starting 3 around 25 years of age; 4 (B) released individuals over the age of 50 5 have a very low recidivism rate; 6 (C) several studies, State policies and pro- 7 grams, and the National Institute of Correc- 8 tions of the Bureau of Prisons, consider incar- 9 cerated individuals aged 50 and above to be el- 10 derly; 11 (D) incarcerated people age at an acceler- 12 ated rate because they are more likely than the 13 general public to experience stresses including 14 long histories of alcohol and drug misuse, insuf- 15 ficient diet, lack of medical care, financial 16 struggles, and stress of maintaining safety 17 while behind bars; 18 (E) the Office of Inspector General of the 19 Department of Justice has found that ‘‘aging 20 inmates commit less misconduct while incarcer- 21 ated and have a lower rate of re-arrest once re- 22 leased,’’ and has recommended the early release 23 of aging inmates to help manage the inmate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2146 IS population and reduce costs at the Bureau of 1 Prisons; 2 (F) the cost to State taxpayers to incar- 3 cerate ‘‘the approximately 250,000 individuals 4 aged 50 or older currently behind bars’’ is 5 about $16,000,000,000 each year; 6 (G) incarceration of individuals beyond the 7 age during which the individuals are likely to 8 commit crime is a drain on taxpayer dollars 9 that does nothing to increase public safety; 10 (H) individuals are capable of redemption; 11 and 12 (I) in the words of Bryan Stevenson, ‘‘each 13 of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever 14 done’’. 15 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN TERMS OF IMPRISON- 16 MENT. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter C of chapter 229 of 18 title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 19 section 3626 the following: 20 ‘‘SEC. 3627. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN TERMS OF IMPRIS- 21 ONMENT. 22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro- 23 vision of law, a court may reduce a term of imprisonment 24 imposed upon a defendant if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2146 IS ‘‘(1) the imposed term of imprisonment was 1 more than 10 years; 2 ‘‘(2) the defendant has served not less than 10 3 years in custody for the offense; and 4 ‘‘(3) the court finds, after considering the fac- 5 tors set forth in subsection (c), that— 6 ‘‘(A) the defendant— 7 ‘‘(i) is not a danger to the safety of 8 any person or the community; and 9 ‘‘(ii) demonstrates readiness for re- 10 entry; and 11 ‘‘(B) the interests of justice warrant a sen- 12 tence modification. 13 ‘‘(b) SUPERVISED RELEASE.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any defendant whose sen- 15 tence is reduced pursuant to subsection (a), shall be 16 ordered to serve— 17 ‘‘(A) the term of supervised release in- 18 cluded as part of the original sentence imposed 19 on the defendant; or 20 ‘‘(B) in the case of a defendant whose 21 original sentence did not include a term of su- 22 pervised release, a term of supervised release 23 not to exceed the authorized terms of super- 24 vised release described in section 3583. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2146 IS ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS OF SUPERVISED RELEASE.— 1 The conditions of supervised release and any modi- 2 fication or revocation of the term of supervised re- 3 lease shall be in accordance with section 3583. 4 ‘‘(c) FACTORS AND INFORMATION TO BE CONSID- 5 ERED IN DETERMINING WHETHER TO MODIFY A TERM 6 OF IMPRISONMENT.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The court, in determining 8 whether to reduce a term of imprisonment pursuant 9 to subsection (a)— 10 ‘‘(A) may consider the factors described in 11 section 3553(a), including the nature of the of- 12 fense and the history and characteristics of the 13 defendant; and 14 ‘‘(B) shall consider— 15 ‘‘(i) the age of the defendant at the 16 time of the offense; 17 ‘‘(ii) the age of the defendant at the 18 time of the sentence modification petition 19 and relevant data regarding the decline in 20 criminality as the age of defendants in- 21 crease; 22 ‘‘(iii) any presentation of argument 23 and evidence by counsel for the defendant; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2146 IS ‘‘(iv) a report and recommendation of 1 the Bureau of Prisons, including informa- 2 tion on whether the defendant has substan- 3 tially complied with the rules of each insti- 4 tution in which the defendant has been 5 confined and whether the defendant has 6 completed any educational, vocational, or 7 other prison program, where available; 8 ‘‘(v) any report and recommendation 9 of the United States attorney for any dis- 10 trict in which an offense for which the de- 11 fendant is imprisoned was prosecuted; 12 ‘‘(vi) whether the defendant has dem- 13 onstrated maturity, rehabilitation, and a 14 fitness to reenter society sufficient to jus- 15 tify a sentence reduction; 16 ‘‘(vii) any statement, which may be 17 presented orally or otherwise, by any vic- 18 tim of an offense for which the defendant 19 is imprisoned or by a family member of the 20 victim if the victim is deceased; 21 ‘‘(viii) any report from a physical, 22 mental, or psychiatric examination of the 23 defendant conducted by a licensed health 24 care professional; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2146 IS ‘‘(ix) the family and community cir- 1 cumstances of the defendant, including any 2 history of abuse, trauma, or involvement in 3 the child welfare system, and the potential 4 benefits to children and family members of 5 reunification with the defendant; 6 ‘‘(x) the role of the defendant in the 7 offense and whether, and to what extent, 8 an adult was involved in the offense if the 9 defendant was a juvenile at the time of the 10 offense; 11 ‘‘(xi) the diminished culpability of ju- 12 veniles as compared to that of adults, and 13 the hallmark features of youth, including 14 immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to ap- 15 preciate risks and consequences, if the de- 16 fendant was a juvenile at the time of the 17 offense; and 18 ‘‘(xii) any other information the court 19 determines relevant to the decision of the 20 court. 21 ‘‘(2) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—In the case 22 of a defendant who is 50 years of age or older on 23 the date on which the defendant files an application 24 for a sentence reduction under subsection (a), there 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2146 IS shall be a rebuttable presumption that the defendant 1 shall be released. 2 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON APPLICATIONS PURSUANT TO 3 THIS SECTION.— 4 ‘‘(1) SECOND APPLICATION.—Not earlier than 5 5 years after the date on which an order denying re- 6 lease on an initial application under this section be- 7 comes final, a court shall entertain a second applica- 8 tion by the same defendant under this section. 9 ‘‘(2) THIRD APPLICATION.—Not earlier than 2 10 years after the date on which an order entered by 11 a court on a second application under paragraph (1) 12 becomes final, a court shall entertain a third appli- 13 cation by the same defendant under this section. 14 ‘‘(3) FINAL APPLICATION.—A court shall enter- 15 tain a final application if the defendant— 16 ‘‘(A) is 50 years of age or older; and 17 ‘‘(B) has exhausted the sentencing modi- 18 fication process. 19 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.— 20 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the 21 date on which the 10th year of imprisonment begins 22 for a defendant sentenced to more than 10 years of 23 imprisonment for an offense, the Bureau of Prisons 24 shall provide written notice of this section to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 2146 IS ‘‘(A) the defendant; and 1 ‘‘(B) the sentencing court, the United 2 States attorney, and the Federal Public De- 3 fender or Executive Director of the Community 4 Defender Organization for the judicial district 5 in which the [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]