[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 150 (Friday, October 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11548-S11549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DORGAN:
  S. 1357. A bill to require the 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.


           the fairness and incarceration responsibility Act

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I am going to introduce legislation today 
dealing with violent offenders. I want to preface it by saying that all 
of us in this country understand that crime rates are coming down some, 
and we are appreciative of that. But violent crime is still far too 
prevalent.
  In North Dakota a couple of weeks ago, we had a young woman named 
Julienne Schultz who stopped at a rest area on a quiet rural road and a 
quiet part of our State. She ran into a man in the rest area who 
abducted her, slashed her throat, and left her for dead. Well, I am 
pleased to tell you today that Julienne did not die, and she is 
recovering.
  The horror of that attack is a horror that is repeated all over this 
country, committed by violent criminals who never should have been out 
of jail early. That attack was perpetrated by a fellow who came from 
Washington State. He was, I guess, driving through North Dakota. He is 
alleged to have committed a couple of murders in Washington State 
before he left Washington a couple of months before. He ran into 
Julienne Schultz, this wonderful woman from North Dakota, who was 
coming back from a meeting with the League of Cities and stopped at a 
rest area only to have her throat slashed by this violent criminal. He 
then took his own life when stopped at a police blockade later that 
night. This fellow had been in prison in the State of Washington for 
prior violent crimes and was let out of prison early.

  It goes on all across this country. I think this country ought to 
decide that, if you commit a violent act, you are going to go to prison 
and the prison cell is going to be your address until the end of your 
sentence--no early out, no nothing. If you are convicted of a violent 
offense, you go to prison and stay there. Your prison cell is your 
address.
  I will just give you a couple more examples.
  Charles Miller is from West Virginia, 28 years old. A couple of years 
ago he was convicted of the violent rape of a young child and was 
sentenced to serve 5 years in prison. He was up for parole three times 
while he was in prison. His third time --May of this year--after 
serving half of the sentence, he was released on gain time, and 43 days 
later he was charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. The 
prosecutor said, ``Unfortunately, in the State the way it is now, 
everybody gets out early. We have people guilty of murder getting out 
on gain time do it again. We ought to abolish gain time.''
  I agree with that prosecutor.
  Miami, FL, a fellow named Gainer, age 23, shot a fellow named Robert 
Mays, 20 years old--got into a dispute about drugs. Sentenced to 5 
years in State prison for manslaughter, served 1 year and 1 month, 
released because he had accumulated 600 days of what is called gain 
time for working in a prison camp. Six months after he was released he 
was charged with first-degree murder once again.
  Mr. Ball, 42, sentenced to 30 years of hard labor in Louisiana, cited 
for 102 disciplinary infractions in prison, the last infraction being 3 
months before he was released 16 years before the end of his sentence 
for good behavior. He was rearrested on first-degree murder and armed 
robbery charges.
  Budweiser delivery man Bernard Scorconi was 45 years old, murdered by 
Mr. Ball when he tried to stop him from robbing a local bar. Ball was 
released 16 years earlier than the end of his sentence.
  It happens all across this country, every day in every way. Violent 
people are put back on the streets before the end of their sentence.
  My mother was killed by someone who committed a manslaughter act, and 
he was let out early. Everybody is let out early. Commit a violent act, 
you get let out early. All you have to do is go to prison, accumulate 
good time. In some States you get 30 days off for every 30 days served.
  I am proposing today a very simple piece of legislation. Let us tell 
those States who let violent people out of prison early, that you are 
going to be responsible for the actions of that offender up until what 
should have been the completion date of that offender's sentence. If a 
State or local government decides it is appropriate to allow violent 
offenders to be let out before the end of their term because they have 
accumulated good time, gain time, or parole. If violent offenders serve 
less than their entire sentence, then during that period of time when 
they should have been in jail, if they commit another violent crime, I 
want the states to be held responsible--no more immunity.
  I say to local governments, be responsible. You want to let violent 
people out on the street early, be responsible for it. Waive your 
immunity. Let people sue you to bring you to account for what you have 
done.
  I am proposing that the grants we have in the 1994 crime bill dealing 
with truth-in-sentencing and violent-offender incarceration be 
available to those States that decide they will waive immunity and be 
responsible for the acts these offenders on early release commit.
  I wonder how many people in this Chamber know that there are more 
than 4,000 people now in prison for committing a murder that they 
committed while they were out early for a previous violent crime. How 
would you like to be one of the families of the 4,000 or more people 
who are murdered who understand their loved one was murdered because 
someone else was let out early from prison. You know it doesn't take 
Dick Tracy to figure out who is going to commit the next violent act. 
It is somebody who has committed a previous violent act.

  I just suggest that there are those who say prisons are overcrowded 
and so the prison overcrowding forces them to release people early. 
Senator John Glenn and I have talked for years about military housing 
and its possible use for incarcerating non-violent offenders. Why 
couldn't corrections officials utilize this kind of low-cost housing 
for nonviolent offenders and freeup maximum security space for violent 
offenders.
  You can probably incarcerate nonviolent offenders for a fraction of 
the cost of what it takes to build a prison. Fifty percent of the 1.5 
million people now in prison in this country are nonviolent. We can 
incarcerate them for a fraction of the cost of what we now spend to put 
them in prisons.
  We could open 100,000, 200,000, or 300,000 prison cells and say to 
violent offenders, that is your address until the end of your sentence. 
Understand that. Your address is your prison cell, if you commit a 
violent crime, until the end of your sentence. We ought to provide a 
creative way for states to facilitate that.
  Even with the best of intentions, in this Chamber about 4 years ago 
we decided that the most violent offenders have to serve 85 percent of 
their time. Let's let them out only 15 percent early, stated another 
way. In fact, in most States those who commit the most violent offenses 
and therefore get

[[Page S11549]]

the longest sentences get the most generous amount of good time.
  I know people will disagree with me about this. I respect that 
disagreement. I say this. If you are the family of a young boy, 13 
years old, named Hall who was murdered just miles from here, or of a 
young attorney in her early 20's named Bettina Pruckmayer, who was 
murdered just miles from here. Both of these young people murdered by 
individuals who had been in prison for previous murders but let out 
early because of the sentence system. Is it fine for us to let them 
back on the street? If they do not have good time, if they are hard to 
manage in prison, think about the violence done to others who are 
murdered and others who are going to die while they are on street.
  I am going to introduce this piece of legislation today. I hope in 
the next year or so before the Congress completes its work that we 
might be able to decide what we need to do about violent offenders. We 
can keep violent offenders off the streets to the end of their 
sentence, and we can protect people like Julienne Schultz, who, 
fortunately, is going to be all right.
  But this innocent young woman who was driving back from a meeting 
stopped at a rest stop in a quiet rural area, had her throat slashed 
and was close to being killed by a fellow who should never have been 
driving through North Dakota, by a fellow who was let out by 
authorities in another State which said, ``We can't afford to keep you 
in prison,'' apparently, and, ``We don't have the time to keep you in 
prison anymore.'' Well, we had better make time. We had better find the 
resources to keep these kind of folks in prison to the end of their 
term in order to help prevent further carnage and the kind of things 
that are happening to innocent people all across this country.
  Mr. President, I ask that the bill be pointed in the Record.
  Mr. President, you have been very generous in the time today.
  I yield the time. I yield the floor.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1357

       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.

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