Pretrial Release Reporting Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1279 To require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics to submit to Congress a report relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial release in State courts, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 25, 2023 Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics to submit to Congress a report relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial release in State courts, 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 ‘‘Pretrial Release Re- 4 porting Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1279 IS (1) Multiple jurisdictions across the United 1 States— 2 (A) broke annual homicide records in 3 2022; and 4 (B) have reported individuals committing 5 violent felony offenses after being granted bail 6 or pretrial release. 7 (2) The failure of felony defendants to appear 8 for mandatory court appearances and felony bail 9 jumping has increased in multiple jurisdictions 10 across the United States. 11 (3) The most recent report issued by the Bu- 12 reau of Justice Statistics relating to the pretrial re- 13 lease of felony defendants in State courts is from 14 2007. 15 (4) The National Pretrial Reporting Program 16 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics was created to 17 collect information on criminal justice processing of 18 individuals charged with felony offenses in State 19 courts, with particular attention given to pretrial re- 20 lease and detention. 21 SEC. 3. REPORT. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 23 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of Bureau of 24 Justice Statistics shall submit to Congress a report on in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1279 IS formation relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial 1 release from State courts that are charged with 1 or more 2 of the following violent felony offenses: 3 (1) Murder or attempted murder. 4 (2) Manslaughter, other than involuntary man- 5 slaughter. 6 (3) Rape or attempted rape. 7 (4) Assault with the intent to commit murder. 8 (5) Assault with the intent to commit rape. 9 (6) Aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, at- 10 tempted sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct. 11 (7) Battery or aggravated battery. 12 (8) Kidnapping. 13 (9) Robbery. 14 (10) Resisting or obstructing an officer. 15 (11) Carjacking. 16 (12) Recklessly endangering safety. 17 (13) Illegal possession of a firearm in the com- 18 mission of a felony. 19 (14) Any other violent felony offense tracked by 20 the jurisdiction in which the offense is committed. 21 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under sub- 22 section (a) shall include— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1279 IS (1) the number of individuals granted bail or 1 pretrial release from State courts that are charged 2 with an offense described in subsection (a); 3 (2) the number of individuals who, after being 4 granted bail or pretrial release, are rearrested or 5 charged with an additional violent felony offense; 6 (3) the percentage of individuals granted bail or 7 pretrial release from State courts who— 8 (A) are charged with a violent felony of- 9 fense; and 10 (B) have a prior arrest or conviction for a 11 violent felony offense; 12 (4) with respect to the pretrial releases de- 13 scribed in paragraph (2) for which the pretrial re- 14 lease condition was bail, the amount of bail granted 15 for each individual; 16 (5) the number of missed mandatory court ap- 17 pearances by individuals charged with a violent fel- 18 ony offense; 19 (6) the factors used by State courts for assess- 20 ing whether to grant bail or pretrial release to indi- 21 viduals who have prior arrests or prior felony convic- 22 tions for a violent felony offense; 23 (7) with respect to individuals who have com- 24 mitted a violent felony offense after being granted 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1279 IS bail or pretrial release, the classification of the vio- 1 lent felony offenses; 2 (8) the status, as of the date of enactment of 3 this Act, of the National Pretrial Reporting Program 4 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the activities 5 of that Program; and 6 (9) an accounting for each fiscal year of the 7 amounts that the Department of Justice has spent, 8 or transferred to components of the Department of 9 Justice, in order to collect information on bail and 10 pretrial release in State courts including, with re- 11 spect to any grants or contracts awarded for that 12 purpose, the amount and the purpose of the grant 13 or contract. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB