[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1357 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1357

 To require States to bear the responsibility for the consequences of 
 releasing violent criminals from custody before the expiration of the 
         full term of imprisonment to which they are sentenced.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 31, 1997

  Mr. Dorgan introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require States to bear the responsibility for the consequences of 
 releasing violent criminals from custody before the expiration of the 
         full term of imprisonment to which they are sentenced.

    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 ``Fairness and Incarceration 
Responsibility (FAIR) Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) violent criminals often serve only a portion of the 
        terms of imprisonment to which they are sentenced;
            (2) a significant proportion of the most serious crimes of 
        violence committed in the United States are committed by 
        criminals who have been released early from a term of 
        imprisonment to which they were sentenced for a prior 
        conviction for a crime of violence;
            (3) violent criminals who are released before the 
        expiration of the term of imprisonment to which they were 
        sentenced often travel to other States to commit subsequent 
        crimes of violence;
            (4) crimes of violence and the threat of crimes of violence 
        committed by violent criminals who are released from prison 
        before the expiration of the term of imprisonment to which they 
        were sentenced affect tourism, economic development, use of the 
        interstate highway system, federally owned or supported 
        facilities, and other commercial activities of individuals; and
            (5) the policies of one State regarding the early release 
        of criminals sentenced in that State for a crime of violence 
        often affect the citizens of other States, who can influence 
        those policies only through Federal law.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to require States to bear 
the responsibility for the consequences of releasing violent criminals 
from custody before the expiration of the full term of imprisonment to 
which they are sentenced.

SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR VIOLENT OFFENDER INCARCERATION GRANTS.

    Section 20103(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13703(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``the State has implemented'' and inserting 
        the following: ``the State--
            ``(1) has implemented'';
            (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; 
        and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) has enacted and implemented a State law providing 
        that a victim (or in the case of a homicide, the family of the 
        victim) of a crime of violence (as defined in section 16 of 
        title 18, United States Code) shall have a Federal cause of 
        action in any district court of the United States against the 
        State for the recovery of actual (not punitive) damages (direct 
        and indirect) resulting from the crime of violence, if the 
        individual convicted of committing the crime of violence--
                    ``(A) had previously been convicted by the State of 
                a crime of violence committed on a different occasion 
                than the crime of violence at issue;
                    ``(B) was released before serving the full term of 
                imprisonment to which the individual was sentenced for 
                that offense; and
                    ``(C) committed the subsequent crime of violence at 
                issue before the original term of imprisonment 
                described in subparagraph (B) would have expired.''.

SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING INCENTIVE GRANTS.

    Section 20104 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act 
of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13704) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``85 percent'' each place that term appears 
        and inserting ``100 percent''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Waiver of Sovereign Immunity.--Notwithstanding subsection 
(a), in addition to the requirements of that subsection, to be eligible 
to receive a grant award under this section, each application submitted 
under subsection (a) shall demonstrate that the State has enacted and 
implemented, a State law providing that a victim (or in the case of a 
homicide, the family of the victim) of a crime of violence (as defined 
in section 16 of title 18, United States Code) shall have a Federal 
cause of action in any district court of the United States against the 
State for the recovery of actual (not punitive) damages (direct and 
indirect) resulting from the crime of violence, if the individual 
convicted of committing the crime of violence--
            ``(1) had previously been convicted by the State of a crime 
        of violence committed on a different occasion than the crime of 
        violence at issue;
            ``(2) was released before serving the full term of 
        imprisonment to which the individual was sentenced for that 
        offense; and
            ``(3) committed the subsequent crime of violence at issue 
        before the original term of imprisonment described in paragraph 
        (2) would have expired.''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 3 
years after the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>