[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 185 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 185

  To provide incentives to encourage stronger truth in sentencing of 
               violent offenders, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 25, 2001

 Mr. Dorgan (for himself and Mr. Craig) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide incentives to encourage stronger truth in sentencing of 
               violent offenders, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Stop Allowing Felons Early Release 
(SAFER) Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) violent criminals often serve only a small 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 affects 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 reduce crimes of 
violence by encouraging States to incarcerate violent offenders for the 
full term of imprisonment to which they are sentenced.

SEC. 3. ALLOCATION OF TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING INCENTIVE GRANTS.

    Section 20106(b) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13706(b)) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence, by striking ``The amounts'' and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the amounts''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Reduced allocation for certain states.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Beginning 3 years after the date 
                of enactment of the Stop Allowing Felons Early Release 
                (SAFER) Act, for each eligible State that has not 
                enacted a statute meeting the requirements of 
                subparagraph (B), the Attorney General shall reduce the 
                amount allocated under paragraph (1) by 25 percent.
                    ``(B) Statute described.--A statute meets the 
                requirements of this subparagraph if it results in the 
                elimination of parole, good time credit release, and 
                any other form of early release for any person 
                convicted of a part 1 violent crime, with early release 
                permitted only by approval of the Governor of the State 
                after a public hearing during which representatives of 
                the public, the victims of the part 1 violent crime at 
                issue, and the law enforcement agencies from the 
                jurisdiction in which the part 1 violent crime at issue 
                was committed have had an opportunity to be heard 
                regarding the proposed release.
                    ``(C) Allocation.--The total amount of the 
                reductions under subparagraph (A) shall be allocated 
                among eligible States that have enacted a statute 
                meeting the requirements of subparagraph (B) on a pro 
                rata basis in accordance with paragraph (1).''.
                                 <all>