The House Judiciary Committee this week will consider legislation to reform the criminal justice system, following bipartisan calls for changes to sentencing laws.
Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., says the push is for what he’s calling “common sense reforms” that reflect core American values.
“Through the Committee’s initiative we are addressing issues such as over-criminalization, sentencing reform, prison and reentry reform, improved criminal procedures and policing strategies, and civil asset forfeiture reform,” Goodlatte said in a video statement Monday.
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On Wednesday, the House Committee will markup the Sentencing Reform Act, a bill introduced last month by Goodlatte, Ranking Member Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security,and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif.
The legislation is a companion to the Sentencing and Corrections Reform Act that passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month and has the backing of President Obama.
The House legislation reforms mandatory minimums for drug offenses, such as reducing the three-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years and the two-strike sentence from 20 to 15 years, among other changes. It also broadens the existing drug “safety valve” to offenders with prior misdemeanor convictions, and creates a second safety valve that allows judges to sentence certain drug offenders below the 10-year minimum.
The Fair Sentencing Act would also become retroactive for offenders who have never received a reduction, or for those who were ineligible because they were sentenced at the mandatory minimum.
The bill enhances sentencing for the trafficking of fentanyl, a highly addictive and deadly drug that is becoming a growing epidemic nationwide.
The House Judiciary Committee has been working on criminal justice for several years, and last year’s congress even launched a Task Force on the issues facing criminal justice reform.
