[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   REGARDING JUDGE WILLIAM W. WILKINS

  Mr. KENNEDY. I am pleased to join my colleagues in paying tribute to 
the tenure of Judge William W. Wilkins as chairman of the United States 
Sentencing Commission.
  The passage of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 was a triumph of 
bipartisan cooperation. Senator Thurmond and I worked for many years to 
persuade our colleagues of the need for this initiative. We shared the 
bipartisan goals of minimizing unwarranted disparity, enhancing the 
certainty of punishment and creating a common law of sentencing to 
replace the unduly discretionary system that then existed. There is 
much talk today of truth in sentencing, but too few people realize that 
we abolished parole in the Federal system effective November 1, 1987.
  Similarly, the effort to write the guidelines was a bipartisan 
undertaking. Judge Wilkins, a Republican, was appointed the first 
chairman of the Commission in 1985, and he worked with Democratic 
members of the Commission, notably then-judge now-Justice Stephen 
Breyer, to draft the initial set of guidelines. Without the give and 
take of bipartisanship, neither the Sentencing Reform Act nor the 
guidelines would have come to fruition.
  As chairman, Judge Wilkins organized the new agency, hired a well-
regarded professional staff, and initiated the difficult job of 
creating a workable, rational set of sentencing guidelines within the 
18-month timeframe provided by statute. Judge Wilkins deserves credit 
for delivering the guidelines to Congress on schedule on April 13, 
1987.
  Along the way, the chairman displayed a healthy pragmatism that 
helped keep the process on track. Although personally supportive of the 
death penalty, he opposed an effort by the Reagan Justice Department to 
have the Commission promulgate death penalty guidelines. Judge Wilkins 
recognized that the basic mission of the Commission was too important 
to risk its success by involving the Commission unnecessarily in the 
death penalty controversy. Judge Wilkins' courageous vote on this 
matter preserved the Federal sentencing reform effort at a time when it 
faced possible derailment.
  Judge Wilkins has guided the Commission toward a strong stand against 
statutory mandatory minimum penalties. In congressional hearings and 
other public forums, he has persuasively explained that such statutes 
are structurally incompatible with and obsolete now that we have a 
functioning sentencing guideline system. Under the leadership of Judge 
Wilkins and Judge David Mazzone, the Commission produced a widely 
acclaimed, comprehensive report on mandatory minimum sentences in 
August, 1991.
  In 1993, Judge Wilkins developed a legislative proposal to reconcile 
the statutory mandatory minimums for drug offenses and the sentencing 
guidelines. Unanimously approved by the Commission and supported in 
concept by the Judicial Conference, a version of the Wilkins proposal 
was introduced as S. 1596 by Senators Simon, Thurmond, Simpson, Leahy, 
and myself, and enacted as title VIII of the 1994 omnibus crime bill.
  Judge Wilkins also played a key role in developing an innovative and 
effective approach to the sentencing of corporations convicted of 
Federal crimes. These corporate guidelines have the potential to make a 
real dent in white-collar crime by encouraging the development of 
anticrime compliance programs.
  In these and many other ways, Judge Billy Wilkins has left an 
indelible mark on the guidelines, the Commission and the Federal 
criminal justice system. He has been a very constructive force at this 
important agency, and I congratulate him on the completion of a 
successful term as chairman.

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