Pretrial Release Reporting Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2833 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 25, 2023 Mr. FITZGERALD (for himself, Ms. VAN DUYNE, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. TIFFANY, Ms. STEFANIK, and Mr. FRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred 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 22:56 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2833.IH H2833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2833 IH (1) Multiple jurisdictions across the United 1 States— 2 (A) broke annual homicide records in 3 2021; 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 (5) In 2020, the National Pretrial Reporting 22 Program of the Bureau of Justice Statistics awarded 23 a grant of $2,000,000 to collect information relating 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2833.IH H2833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2833 IH to individuals charged with felony offenses and re- 1 leased from criminal pretrial detention. 2 (6) Neither the National Pretrial Reporting 3 Program of the Bureau of Justice Statistics nor the 4 Bureau of Justice Statistics has published any infor- 5 mation relating to the pretrial release of felony de- 6 fendants in State courts since the 2020 grant award. 7 SEC. 3. REPORT. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 9 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of Bureau of 10 Justice Statistics shall submit to Congress a report on in- 11 formation relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial 12 release from State courts that are charged with 1 or more 13 of the following violent felony offenses: 14 (1) Murder or attempted murder. 15 (2) Manslaughter, other than involuntary man- 16 slaughter. 17 (3) Rape or attempted rape. 18 (4) Assault with the intent to commit murder. 19 (5) Assault with the intent to commit rape. 20 (6) Aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, at- 21 tempted sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct. 22 (7) Battery or aggravated battery. 23 (8) Kidnapping. 24 (9) Robbery. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2833.IH H2833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2833 IH (10) Resisting or obstructing an officer. 1 (11) Carjacking. 2 (12) Recklessly endangering safety. 3 (13) Illegal possession of a firearm in the com- 4 mission of a felony. 5 (14) Any other violent felony offense tracked by 6 the jurisdiction in which the offense is committed. 7 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under sub- 8 section (a) shall include— 9 (1) the number of individuals granted bail or 10 pretrial release from State courts that are charged 11 with an offense described in subsection (a); 12 (2) the number of individuals who, after being 13 granted bail or pretrial release, are rearrested or 14 charged with an additional violent felony offense; 15 (3) the percentage of individuals granted bail or 16 pretrial release from State courts who— 17 (A) are charged with a violent felony of- 18 fense; and 19 (B) have a prior arrest or conviction for a 20 violent felony offense; 21 (4) with respect to the pretrial releases de- 22 scribed in paragraph (2) for which the pretrial re- 23 lease condition was bail, the amount of bail granted 24 for each individual; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2833.IH H2833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2833 IH (5) the number of missed mandatory court ap- 1 pearances by individuals charged with a violent fel- 2 ony offense; 3 (6) the factors used by State courts for assess- 4 ing whether to grant bail or pretrial release to indi- 5 viduals who have prior arrests or prior felony convic- 6 tions for a violent felony offense; 7 (7) with respect to individuals who have com- 8 mitted a violent felony offense after being granted 9 bail or pretrial release, the classification of the vio- 10 lent felony offenses; 11 (8) the status, as of the date of enactment of 12 this Act, of the National Pretrial Reporting Program 13 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the activities 14 of that Program; and 15 (9) an accounting for each fiscal year of the 16 amounts that the Department of Justice has ex- 17 pended, or transferred to components of the Depart- 18 ment of Justice, in order to collect information on 19 bail and pretrial release in State courts including, 20 with respect to any grants or contracts awarded for 21 that purpose, the amount and the purpose of the 22 grant or contract. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2833.IH H2833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS