II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1279 

To require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics to submit to 

Congress a report relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial release 

in State courts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2023 

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, and 

Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics 

to submit to Congress a report relating to individuals 

granted bail and pretrial release in State courts, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pretrial Release Re5 porting Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•S 1279 IS

1 (1) Multiple jurisdictions across the United 

2 States— 

3 (A) broke annual homicide records in 

4 2022; and 

5 (B) have reported individuals committing 

6 violent felony offenses after being granted bail 

7 or pretrial release. 

8 (2) The failure of felony defendants to appear 

9 for mandatory court appearances and felony bail 

10 jumping has increased in multiple jurisdictions 

11 across the United States. 

12 (3) The most recent report issued by the Bu13 reau of Justice Statistics relating to the pretrial re14 lease of felony defendants in State courts is from 

15 2007. 

16 (4) The National Pretrial Reporting Program 

17 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics was created to 

18 collect information on criminal justice processing of 

19 individuals charged with felony offenses in State 

20 courts, with particular attention given to pretrial re21 lease and detention. 

22 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of Bureau of 

25 Justice Statistics shall submit to Congress a report on inVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Apr 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•S 1279 IS

1 formation relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial 

2 release from State courts that are charged with 1 or more 

3 of the following violent felony offenses: 

4 (1) Murder or attempted murder. 

5 (2) Manslaughter, other than involuntary man6 slaughter. 

7 (3) Rape or attempted rape. 

8 (4) Assault with the intent to commit murder. 

9 (5) Assault with the intent to commit rape. 

10 (6) Aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, at11 tempted sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct. 

12 (7) Battery or aggravated battery. 

13 (8) Kidnapping. 

14 (9) Robbery. 

15 (10) Resisting or obstructing an officer. 

16 (11) Carjacking. 

17 (12) Recklessly endangering safety. 

18 (13) Illegal possession of a firearm in the com19 mission of a felony. 

20 (14) Any other violent felony offense tracked by 

21 the jurisdiction in which the offense is committed. 

22 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under sub23 section (a) shall include— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•S 1279 IS

1 (1) the number of individuals granted bail or 

2 pretrial release from State courts that are charged 

3 with an offense described in subsection (a); 

4 (2) the number of individuals who, after being 

5 granted bail or pretrial release, are rearrested or 

6 charged with an additional violent felony offense; 

7 (3) the percentage of individuals granted bail or 

8 pretrial release from State courts who— 

9 (A) are charged with a violent felony of10 fense; and 

11 (B) have a prior arrest or conviction for a 

12 violent felony offense; 

13 (4) with respect to the pretrial releases de14 scribed in paragraph (2) for which the pretrial re15 lease condition was bail, the amount of bail granted 

16 for each individual; 

17 (5) the number of missed mandatory court ap18 pearances by individuals charged with a violent fel19 ony offense; 

20 (6) the factors used by State courts for assess21 ing whether to grant bail or pretrial release to indi22 viduals who have prior arrests or prior felony convic23 tions for a violent felony offense; 

24 (7) with respect to individuals who have com25 mitted a violent felony offense after being granted 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•S 1279 IS

1 bail or pretrial release, the classification of the vio2 lent felony offenses; 

3 (8) the status, as of the date of enactment of 

4 this Act, of the National Pretrial Reporting Program 

5 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the activities 

6 of that Program; and 

7 (9) an accounting for each fiscal year of the 

8 amounts that the Department of Justice has spent, 

9 or transferred to components of the Department of 

10 Justice, in order to collect information on bail and 

11 pretrial release in State courts including, with re12 spect to any grants or contracts awarded for that 

13 purpose, the amount and the purpose of the grant 

14 or contract. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB