I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3795 

To enable incarcerated persons to petition a Federal court for a second 

look at sentences longer than 10 years, where the person is not a 

danger to the safety of any person or the community, and has shown 

they are ready for reentry, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 17, 2019 

Ms. BASS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To enable incarcerated persons to petition a Federal court 

for a second look at sentences longer than 10 years, 

where the person is not a danger to the safety of any 

person or the community, and has shown they are ready 

for reentry, 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 ‘‘Second Look Act of 

5 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN TERMS OF IMPRISON2 MENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter C of chapter 229 of 

4 title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

5 section 3626 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 3627. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN TERMS OF IMPRIS7 ONMENT. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro9 vision of law, a court may reduce a term of imprisonment 

10 imposed upon a defendant if— 

11 ‘‘(1) the imposed term of imprisonment was 

12 more than 10 years; 

13 ‘‘(2) the defendant has served not less than 10 

14 years in custody for the offense; and 

15 ‘‘(3) the court finds, after considering the fac16 tors set forth in subsection (c), that— 

17 ‘‘(A) the defendant— 

18 ‘‘(i) is not a danger to the safety of 

19 any person or the community; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) demonstrates readiness for re21 entry; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the interests of justice warrant a sen23 tence modification. 

24 ‘‘(b) SUPERVISED RELEASE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any defendant whose sen2 tence is reduced pursuant to subsection (a), shall be 

3 ordered to serve— 

4 ‘‘(A) the term of supervised release in5 cluded as part of the original sentence imposed 

6 on the defendant; or 

7 ‘‘(B) in the case of a defendant whose 

8 original sentence did not include a term of su9 pervised release, a term of supervised release 

10 not to exceed the authorized terms of super11 vised release described in section 3583. 

12 ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS OF SUPERVISED RELEASE.— 

13 The conditions of supervised release and any modi14 fication or revocation of the term of supervised re15 lease shall be in accordance with section 3583. 

16 ‘‘(c) FACTORS AND INFORMATION TO BE CONSID17 ERED IN DETERMINING WHETHER TO MODIFY A TERM

18 OF IMPRISONMENT.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The court, in determining 

20 whether to reduce a term of imprisonment pursuant 

21 to subsection (a)— 

22 ‘‘(A) may consider the factors described in 

23 section 3553(a), including the nature of the of24 fense and the history and characteristics of the 

25 defendant; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) shall consider— 

2 ‘‘(i) the age of the defendant at the 

3 time of the offense; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the age of the defendant at the 

5 time of the sentence modification petition 

6 and relevant data regarding the decline in 

7 criminality as the age of defendants in8 crease; 

9 ‘‘(iii) any presentation of argument 

10 and evidence by counsel for the defendant; 

11 ‘‘(iv) a report and recommendation of 

12 the Bureau of Prisons, including informa13 tion on whether the defendant has substan14 tially complied with the rules of each insti15 tution in which the defendant has been 

16 confined and whether the defendant has 

17 completed any educational, vocational, or 

18 other prison program, where available; 

19 ‘‘(v) any report and recommendation 

20 of the United States attorney for any dis21 trict in which an offense for which the de22 fendant is imprisoned was prosecuted; 

23 ‘‘(vi) whether the defendant has dem24 onstrated maturity, rehabilitation, and a 


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1 fitness to reenter society sufficient to jus2 tify a sentence reduction; 

3 ‘‘(vii) any statement, which may be 

4 presented orally or otherwise, by any vic5 tim of an offense for which the defendant 

6 is imprisoned or by a family member of the 

7 victim if the victim is deceased; 

8 ‘‘(viii) any report from a physical, 

9 mental, or psychiatric examination of the 

10 defendant conducted by a licensed health 

11 care professional; 

12 ‘‘(ix) the family and community cir13 cumstances of the defendant, including any 

14 history of abuse, trauma, or involvement in 

15 the child welfare system, and the potential 

16 benefits to children and family members of 

17 reunification with the defendant; 

18 ‘‘(x) the role of the defendant in the 

19 offense and whether, and to what extent, 

20 an adult was involved in the offense if the 

21 defendant was a juvenile at the time of the 

22 offense; 

23 ‘‘(xi) the diminished culpability of ju24 veniles as compared to that of adults, and 

25 the hallmark features of youth, including 


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1 immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to ap2 preciate risks and consequences, if the de3 fendant was a juvenile at the time of the 

4 offense; and 

5 ‘‘(xii) any other information the court 

6 determines relevant to the decision of the 

7 court. 

8 ‘‘(2) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—In the case 

9 of a defendant who is 50 years of age or older on 

10 the date on which the defendant files an application 

11 for a sentence reduction under subsection (a), there 

12 shall be a rebuttable presumption that the sentence 

13 of the defendant shall be reduced. 

14 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON APPLICATIONS PURSUANT TO

15 THIS SECTION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) SECOND APPLICATION.—Not earlier than 

17 5 years after the date on which an order denying re18 lease on an initial application under this section be19 comes final, a court shall entertain a second applica20 tion by the same defendant under this section. 

21 ‘‘(2) THIRD APPLICATION.—Not earlier than 2 

22 years after the date on which an order entered by 

23 a court on a second application under paragraph (1) 

24 becomes final, a court shall entertain a third appli25 cation by the same defendant under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(3) FINAL APPLICATION.—A court shall enter2 tain a final application if the defendant— 

3 ‘‘(A) is 50 years of age or older; and 

4 ‘‘(B) has exhausted the sentencing modi5 fication process. 

6 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the 

8 date on which the 10th year of imprisonment begins 

9 for a defendant sentenced to more than 10 years of 

10 imprisonment for an offense, the Bureau of Prisons 

11 shall provide written notice of this section to— 

12 ‘‘(A) the defendant; and 

13 ‘‘(B) the sentencing court, the United 

14 States attorney, and the Federal Public De15 fender or Executive Director of the Community 

16 Defender Organization for the judicial district 

17 in which the sentence described in this para18 graph was imposed. 

19 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An application for a 

21 sentence reduction under this section shall be 

22 filed in the judicial district in which the sen23 tence was imposed as a motion to reduce the 

24 sentence of the defendant pursuant to this secVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3795.IH H3795

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1 tion and may include affidavits or other written 

2 material. 

3 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—A motion to reduce 

4 a sentence under this section shall be filed with 

5 the sentencing court and a copy shall be served 

6 on the United States attorney for the judicial 

7 district in which the sentence was imposed. 

8 ‘‘(3) EXPANDING THE RECORD; HEARING.— 

9 ‘‘(A) EXPANDING THE RECORD.—After the 

10 filing of a motion to reduce a sentence under 

11 this section, the court may direct the parties to 

12 expand the record by submitting additional 

13 written materials relating to the motion. 

14 ‘‘(B) HEARING.— 

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The court shall, 

16 upon request of the defendant or the Gov17 ernment, conduct a hearing on the motion, 

18 at which the defendant and counsel for the 

19 defendant shall be given the opportunity to 

20 be heard. 

21 ‘‘(ii) EVIDENCE.—In a hearing under 

22 this section, the court shall allow parties to 

23 present evidence. 

24 ‘‘(iii) DEFENDANT’S PRESENCE.—At 

25 a hearing under this section, the defendant 


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1 shall be present unless the defendant 

2 waives the right to be present. The re3 quirement under this clause may be satis4 fied by the defendant appearing by video 

5 teleconference. 

6 ‘‘(iv) COUNSEL.—A defendant who is 

7 unable to afford counsel is entitled to have 

8 counsel appointed, at no cost to the de9 fendant, to represent the defendant for the 

10 application and proceedings under this sec11 tion, including any appeal, unless the de12 fendant expressly waives the right to coun13 sel after being fully advised of their rights 

14 by the court. 

15 ‘‘(v) FINDINGS.—The court shall state 

16 in open court, and file in writing, the rea17 sons for granting or denying a motion 

18 under this section. 

19 ‘‘(C) APPEAL.—The Government or the 

20 defendant may file a notice of appeal in the dis21 trict court for review of a final order under this 

22 section. The time limit for filing such appeal 

23 shall be governed by rule 4(a) of the Federal 

24 Rules of Appellate Procedure. 


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1 ‘‘(4) CRIME VICTIMS RIGHTS.—Upon receiving 

2 an application under paragraph (2), the United 

3 States attorney shall provide any notifications re4 quired under section 3771. 

5 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of the Second Look Act of 

8 2019, and once every year thereafter, the United 

9 States Sentencing Commission shall submit to the 

10 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 

11 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep12 resentatives a report on requests for sentence reduc13 tions under this section. 

14 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required to be 

15 published under paragraph (1) shall include, for the 

16 1-year period preceding the report— 

17 ‘‘(A) the number of incarcerated individ18 uals granted and denied sentence reductions 

19 under this section; 

20 ‘‘(B) the number of incarcerated individ21 uals released from prison under this section; 

22 ‘‘(C) the demographic characteristics, in23 cluding race and gender, of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the incarcerated individuals who 

2 applied for a sentence reduction under this 

3 section; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the incarcerated individuals 

5 granted sentence reductions under this sec6 tion; and 

7 ‘‘(iii) the incarcerated individuals who 

8 were released from prison under this sec9 tion; 

10 ‘‘(D) the location, categorized by Federal 

11 circuit and State, of— 

12 ‘‘(i) the incarcerated individuals who 

13 applied for sentence reductions under this 

14 section; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the incarcerated individuals 

16 granted sentence reductions under this sec17 tion; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) the incarcerated individuals who 

19 were released from prison under this sec20 tion; 

21 ‘‘(E) the average sentence reduction grant22 ed under this section; 

23 ‘‘(F) the number of incarcerated individ24 uals 50 years of age or older who applied for 

25 sentence reductions under this section; 


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1 ‘‘(G) the number of incarcerated individ2 uals 50 years of age or older who were granted 

3 sentence reductions under this section; and 

4 ‘‘(H) the number of individuals incarcer5 ated 50 years of age or older who were released 

6 from prison under this section. 

7 ‘‘(3) ATTORNEY GENERAL COOPERATION.—The 

8 Attorney General shall assist and provide informa9 tion to the United States Sentencing Commission in 

10 the performance of the Commission’s duties under 

11 this subsection and promptly respond to requests 

12 from the Commission.’’. 

13 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections for 

14 subchapter C of chapter 229 of title 18, United States 

15 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

16 section 3626 the following: 

‘‘3627. Modification of certain terms of imprisonment.’’. 

17 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

18 Section 3582(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amend19 ed— 

20 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

21 the end; 

22 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 

23 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (3) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) the court may reduce a term of imprison2 ment in accordance with section 3627.’’. 

3 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

4 section shall apply to any conviction entered before, on, 

5 or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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