Union Calendar No. 256

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3981

[Report No. 103–463]

A BILL

To provide mandatory life imprisonment for

persons convicted of a third violent felony.

MARCH 25, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 256

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3981

[Report No. 103–463]

To provide mandatory life imprisonment for persons convicted of a third

violent felony.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 1994

Mr. SCHUMER (by request) (for himself, Mr. HOYER, Mr. MAZZOLI, Mr.

GLICKMAN, Mr. SANGMEISTER, Mr. MANN, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr.

RAMSTAD, Mr. LIVINGSTON, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. MANTON, and Mrs. BYRNE)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

MARCH 25, 1994

Additional sponsors: Mr. POMEROY and Ms. SHEPHERD

MARCH 25, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 8, 1994]

A BILL

To provide mandatory life imprisonment for persons

convicted of a third violent felony.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. IMPRISONMENT OF CERTAIN VIOLENT FELONS.

2 Section 3559 of title 18, United States Code, is amend3 ed—

4 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘An’’ and in5 serting ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (c), an’’ in

6 lieu thereof; and

7 (2) by adding the following new subsection at the

8 end:

9 ‘‘(c) IMPRISONMENT OF CERTAIN VIOLENT FELONS.—

10 ‘‘(1) MANDATORY LIFE IMPRISONMENT.—Not11 withstanding any other provision of law, a person

12 who is convicted in a court of the United States of

13 a serious violent felony shall be sentenced to life im14 prisonment if—

15 ‘‘(A) the person has been convicted (and

16 those convictions have become final) on 2 or

17 more prior occasions in a court of the United

18 States or of a State of—

19 ‘‘(i) a serious violent felony; or

20 ‘‘(ii) one or more serious violent felo21 nies and one or more serious drug offenses;

22 and

23 ‘‘(B) each serious violent felony or serious

24 drug offense used as a basis for sentencing under

25 this subsection, other than the first, was commit-
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1 ted after the defendant’s conviction of the preced2 ing serious violent felony or serious drug offense.

3 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub4 section—

5 ‘‘(A) the term ‘assault with intent to com6 mit rape’ means an offense that has as its ele7 ments engaging in physical conduct by which a

8 person intentionally places another person in

9 fear of aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse

10 (as described in sections 2241 and 2242 of this

11 title);

12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘arson’ means an offense that

13 has as its elements maliciously damaging or de14 stroying any building, inhabited structure, vehi15 cle, vessel, or real property by means of fire or

16 an explosive;

17 ‘‘(C) the term ‘extortion’ means an offense

18 that has as its elements the extraction of any19 thing of value from another person by threaten20 ing or placing that person in fear of injury to

21 any person or kidnapping of any person;

22 ‘‘(D) the term ‘firearms use’ means an of23 fense that has as its elements those described in

24 section 924(c) or 929(a) of this title, if the fire25 arm was brandished, discharged, or otherwise
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1 used as a weapon and the crime of violence or

2 drug trafficking crime during and relation to

3 which the firearm was used was subject to pros4 ecution in a court of the United States or a

5 court of a State, or both;

6 ‘‘(E) the term ‘kidnapping’ means an of7 fense that has as its elements the abduction, re8 straining, confining, or carrying away of an9 other person by force or threat of force;

10 ‘‘(F) the term ‘serious violent felony’

11 means—

12 ‘‘(i) a Federal or State offense, by

13 whatever designation and wherever commit14 ted, consisting of murder (as described in

15 section 1111 of this title); manslaughter

16 other than involuntary manslaughter (as

17 described in section 1112 of this title); as18 sault with intent to commit murder (as de19 scribed in section 113(a) of this title); as20 sault with intent to commit rape; aggra21 vated sexual abuse and sexual abuse (as de22 scribed in sections 2241 and 2242 of this

23 title); abusive sexual contact (as described

24 in sections 2244(a)(1) and (a)(2) of this

25 title); kidnapping; aircraft piracy (as de-
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1 scribed in section 902(i)(2) or 902(n)(2) of

2 the Federal Aviation Act of 1958); robbery

3 (as described in section 2111 of this title);

4 carjacking (as described in section 2119 of

5 this title); extortion; arson; firearms use; or

6 attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to com7 mit any of the above offenses; or

8 ‘‘(ii) any other offense punishable by a

9 maximum term of imprisonment of 10

10 years or more that has as an element the

11 use, attempted use, or threatened use of

12 physical force against the person of another

13 or that, by its nature, involves a substantial

14 risk that physical force against the person

15 of another may be used in the course of

16 committing the offense;

17 ‘‘(G) the term ‘State’ means a State of the

18 United States, the District of Columbia, or any

19 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the

20 United States; and

21 ‘‘(H) the term ‘serious drug offense’

22 means—

23 ‘‘(i) an offense subject to a penalty pro24 vided for in section 401(b)(1)(A) or 408 of

25 the Controlled Substances Act or section
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1 1010(b)(1)(A) of the Controlled Substances

2 Import and Export Act; or

3 ‘‘(ii) an offense under State law that,

4 had the offense been prosecuted in a court of

5 the United States, would have been subject

6 to a penalty provided for in section

7 401(b)(1)(A) or 408 of the Controlled Sub8 stances Act or section 1010(b)(1)(A) of the

9 Controlled Substances Import and Export

10 Act.

11 ‘‘(3) NONQUALIFYING FELONIES.—

12 ‘‘(A) ROBBERY IN CERTAIN CASES.—Rob13 bery, an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to

14 commit robbery; or an offense described in para15 graph (2)(F)(ii) shall not serve as a basis for

16 sentencing under this subsection if the defendant

17 establishes by clear and convincing evidence

18 that—

19 ‘‘(i) no firearm or other dangerous

20 weapon was involved in the offense; and

21 ‘‘(ii) the offense did not result in death

22 or serious bodily injury (as defined in sec23 tion 1365) to any person.

24 ‘‘(B) ARSON IN CERTAIN CASES.—Arson

25 shall not serve as a basis for sentencing under
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1 this subsection if the defendant establishes by

2 clear and convincing evidence that.—

3 ‘‘(i) the offense posed no threat to

4 human life; and

5 ‘‘(ii) the defendant reasonably believed

6 the offense posed no threat to human life.

7 ‘‘(4) INFORMATION FILED BY UNITED STATES AT8 TORNEY.—The provisions of section 411(a) of the

9 Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 851(a)) shall

10 apply to the imposition of sentence under this sub11 section.

12 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This subsection

13 shall not be construed to preclude imposition of the

14 death penalty.

15 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL PROVISION FOR INDIAN COUN16 TRY.—No person subject to the criminal jurisdiction

17 of an Indian tribal government shall be subject to this

18 subsection for any offense for which Federal jurisdic19 tion is solely predicated on Indian country as defined

20 in section 1151 of this title and which occurs within

21 the boundaries of such Indian country unless the gov22 erning body of the tribe has elected that this sub23 section have effect over land and persons subject to the

24 criminal jurisdiction of the tribe.
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1 ‘‘(7) RESENTENCING UPON OVERTURNING OF

2 PRIOR CONVICTION.—If the conviction for a serious

3 violent felony which was a basis for sentencing under

4 this subsection is found, pursuant to any appropriate

5 State or Federal procedure, to be unconstitutional or

6 is vitiated on the explicit basis of innocence, or if the

7 convicted person is pardoned on the explicit basis of

8 innocence, the person serving a sentence imposed

9 under this subsection shall be resentenced to any sen10 tence that was available at the time of the original

11 sentencing.’’.

12 SEC. 2. LIMITED GRANT OF AUTHORITY TO BUREAU OF

13 PRISONS.

14 Section 3582(c)(1)(A) of title 18, United States Code,

15 is amended—

16 (1) so that the margin of the matter starting

17 with ‘‘extraordinary’’ and ending with ‘‘reduction’’

18 the first place it appears is indented an additional 2-

19 ems;

20 (2) by inserting a one-em dash after ‘‘that’’ the

21 second place it appears;

22 (3) by inserting a semicolon after ‘‘reduction’’

23 the first place it appears;
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1 (4) by indenting the first line of the matter re2 ferred to in paragraph (1) and designating that mat3 ter as clause (i); and

4 (5) by inserting after such matter the following:

5 ‘‘(ii) the defendant is at least 70 years

6 of age, has served at least 30 years in pris7 on, pursuant to a sentence imposed under

8 section 3559(c) of this title, for the offense

9 or offenses for which the defendant is cur10 rently imprisoned, and a determination has

11 been made by the Director of the Bureau of

12 Prisons that the defendant is not a danger

13 to the safety of any other person or the com14 munity, as provided under section 3142(g)

15 of this title;’’.