[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.
                                 <all>