[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2213 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2213
To study the incidence of downward departures in criminal cases and
repeal provisions of the PROTECT Act that do not specifically deal with
the prevention of the exploitation of children.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 22, 2003
Mr. Conyers (for himself, Mr. Berman, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Watt, Ms.
Waters, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of California,
Mr. Sanders, Ms. Lee, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Filner, Ms. Millender-
McDonald, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, and Mr. Honda) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To study the incidence of downward departures in criminal cases and
repeal provisions of the PROTECT Act that do not specifically deal with
the prevention of the exploitation of children.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Judicial Use of Discretion to
Guarantee Equity in Sentencing Act of 2003'' or ``JUDGES Act''.
SEC. 2. A REPORT ON THE INCIDENCE OF DOWNWARD DEPARTURES.
(a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the United States Sentencing Commission shall
submit to Congress a report on the incidence of downward departures
from the United States Sentencing Guidelines.
(b) Content of Report.--The report required by subsection (a) shall
include--
(1) a discussion of the history and purpose of departures
in the Federal sentencing guideline system;
(2) information on rates of departures from the sentencing
guidelines, including information on variations in departure
rates among different districts and judicial circuits, and
among different offense and departure types, and an assessment
of the factors that may account for these variations;
(3) an analysis of the grounds provided by district court
judges when they depart from the guidelines, and whether the
Commission should adopt guidelines or policy statement to
prohibit, encourage, or discourage departures based on such
grounds;
(4) a review of departure appeals, including trends in the
number and disposition of departure appeals;
(5) a comparison of the departure authority in Federal law
with the departure authority in State sentencing guideline
systems;
(6) an assessment of the extent to which departures from
the sentencing guidelines circumvent or promote operation of
the sentencing guidelines system;
(7) an assessment of the extent to which departures from
the sentencing guidelines undermine or promote the purposes of
sentencing as set forth in section 3553(a)(2) of title 18,
United States Code;
(8) an assessment of variations in the magnitude of
departures and the frequency with which the final sentences
result in imprisonment, intermediate conditions of confinement,
or release;
(9) an assessment of the extent to which existing
mechanisms to review departures from the sentencing guidelines
are sufficient to ensure that the purposes of sentencing
referred to in paragraph (7) are achieved; and
(10) any other information, assessments, or recommendations
that the Commission considers to be appropriate.
(c) Public Hearing.--In preparing the report, the Commission
shall--
(1) hold at least one public hearing on the subject of
guideline departures; and
(2) solicit the views of the Federal judiciary, the
Department of Justice, the defense bar, and other interested
parties.
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF NONCONFORMING PROVISIONS.
Subsections (c) through (h), and (j) through (n) of section 401 the
Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of
Children Today Act of 2003, or the PROTECT Act, are repealed, and shall
be treated as though those subsections and the amendments made by those
subsections had never taken effect.
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