II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2146 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 17, 2019 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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. FINDINGS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS RELATED TO THE UNITED STATES

3 CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.—Congress finds the fol4 lowing: 

5 (1) Although the United States has less than 5 

6 percent of the world’s population, the United States 

7 holds approximately 21 percent of the world’s pris8 oners and leads the world in the number of individ9 uals incarcerated, with nearly 2,200,000 people in10 carcerated in State and Federal prisons and local 

11 jails. 

12 (2) The prison population of the United States 

13 has increased by 500 percent over a 40-year period 

14 preceding the date of enactment of this Act. 

15 (3) The United States incarcerates citizens of 

16 the United States at 5 to 10 times the rate of other 

17 industrialized nations. 

18 (4) The face of incarceration in the United 

19 States is not exclusively male. Although only 5 per20 cent of the women in the world live in the United 

21 States, the United States houses 30 percent of the 

22 world’s incarcerated women. 

23 (5) The growth of the incarceration of women 

24 in the United States has outpaced that of men by 

25 nearly 2-to-1, growing nearly 800 percent between 

26 1978 and 2014. Eighty percent of incarcerated 


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1 women are mothers and most are the primary care2 takers for their children. 

3 (6) The overall prison population of the United 

4 States in 2017 declined by 7.3 percent since reach5 ing a peak level in 2009, but at the current rate of 

6 decline it would take until 2091 (72 years) to cut 

7 the prison population in the United States in half. 

8 (7) Nearly half of the United States Federal 

9 prison population in 2017 was incarcerated for a 

10 drug trafficking offense. 

11 (b) FINDINGS RELATED TO THE NEED FOR A SEC12 OND LOOK.—Congress finds the following: 

13 (1) Congress finds that a second look at the 

14 sentences for incarcerated individuals is needed. 

15 (2) Life sentences of imprisonment and long 

16 sentences without the possibility of review violate 

17 human rights standards. 

18 (3) One out of 9 incarcerated individuals is cur19 rently serving a life sentence, nearly one-third of 

20 whom are sentenced to life without parole. One out 

21 of every 15 women in prison, nearly 7,000 women, 

22 is serving a life or virtual life sentence. 

23 (4) In 2016, 161,957 people were serving a life 

24 sentence and 53,290 people were serving life without 

25 parole in the United States, compared to a total of 


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1 50 people serving a life sentence without the possi2 bility of release in the United Kingdom. 

3 (5) Mandatory minimum penalties continue to 

4 result in long sentences in the Federal system, as of 

5 2016— 

6 (A) 55.7 percent of the Federal prison 

7 population had been sentenced under a manda8 tory minimum provision; 

9 (B) the average sentence length for indi10 viduals who were convicted of an offense car11 rying a mandatory minimum penalty was 110 

12 months of imprisonment; and 

13 (C) more than two-thirds of Federal pris14 oners serving life or virtual life sentences have 

15 been convicted of nonviolent crimes, including 

16 30 percent for a drug crime. 

17 (6) Among those individuals serving life without 

18 parole sentences, 49.1 percent have been convicted 

19 of a drug related crime. 

20 (7) The United States has much more punitive 

21 sentencing laws than the rest of the world, as— 

22 (A) sentence lengths in most European 

23 countries rarely exceed 20 years; 


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1 (B) Norway abolished life sentences in 

2 1981 and under Norwegian law, the maximum 

3 prison term is 21 years; 

4 (C) in Denmark and Sweden, individuals 

5 serving life sentences can be released after 12 

6 years and 18 years of imprisonment, respec7 tively; and 

8 (D) in Latin America, only 6 out of 19 

9 countries maintain statutes that allow life im10 prisonment. 

11 (8) With the abolition of parole under the Sen12 tencing Reform Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–473; 

13 98 Stat. 1987), there are extremely limited options 

14 for review of Federal sentences, which differs greatly 

15 from the rest of the world, as— 

16 (A) Belgium requires a parole review of life 

17 sentences after 10 years; 

18 (B) Germany requires a parole review of 

19 life sentences after 15 years; and 

20 (C) the International Criminal Court re21 quires a parole review of life sentences after 25 

22 years. 

23 (9) An incarcerated individual should not be 

24 precluded from receiving a second look review of 


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1 their sentence because of ‘‘the nature of the crime’’ 

2 for which the individual was convicted, as— 

3 (A) individuals age out of crime starting 

4 around 25 years of age; 

5 (B) released individuals over the age of 50 

6 have a very low recidivism rate; 

7 (C) several studies, State policies and pro8 grams, and the National Institute of Correc9 tions of the Bureau of Prisons, consider incar10 cerated individuals aged 50 and above to be el11 derly; 

12 (D) incarcerated people age at an acceler13 ated rate because they are more likely than the 

14 general public to experience stresses including 

15 long histories of alcohol and drug misuse, insuf16 ficient diet, lack of medical care, financial 

17 struggles, and stress of maintaining safety 

18 while behind bars; 

19 (E) the Office of Inspector General of the 

20 Department of Justice has found that ‘‘aging 

21 inmates commit less misconduct while incarcer22 ated and have a lower rate of re-arrest once re23 leased,’’ and has recommended the early release 

24 of aging inmates to help manage the inmate 


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1 population and reduce costs at the Bureau of 

2 Prisons; 

3 (F) the cost to State taxpayers to incar4 cerate ‘‘the approximately 250,000 individuals 

5 aged 50 or older currently behind bars’’ is 

6 about $16,000,000,000 each year; 

7 (G) incarceration of individuals beyond the 

8 age during which the individuals are likely to 

9 commit crime is a drain on taxpayer dollars 

10 that does nothing to increase public safety; 

11 (H) individuals are capable of redemption; 

12 and 

13 (I) in the words of Bryan Stevenson, ‘‘each 

14 of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever 

15 done’’. 

16 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN TERMS OF IMPRISON17 MENT. 

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

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

20 section 3626 the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 3627. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN TERMS OF IMPRIS22 ONMENT. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro24 vision of law, a court may reduce a term of imprisonment 

25 imposed upon a defendant if— 


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

2 more than 10 years; 

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

4 years in custody for the offense; and 

5 ‘‘(3) the court finds, after considering the fac6 tors set forth in subsection (c), that— 

7 ‘‘(A) the defendant— 

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

9 any person or the community; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) demonstrates readiness for re11 entry; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the interests of justice warrant a sen13 tence modification. 

14 ‘‘(b) SUPERVISED RELEASE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any defendant whose sen16 tence is reduced pursuant to subsection (a), shall be 

17 ordered to serve— 

18 ‘‘(A) the term of supervised release in19 cluded as part of the original sentence imposed 

20 on the defendant; or 

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

22 original sentence did not include a term of su23 pervised release, a term of supervised release 

24 not to exceed the authorized terms of super25 vised release described in section 3583. 


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

2 The conditions of supervised release and any modi3 fication or revocation of the term of supervised re4 lease shall be in accordance with section 3583. 

5 ‘‘(c) FACTORS AND INFORMATION TO BE CONSID6 ERED IN DETERMINING WHETHER TO MODIFY A TERM

7 OF IMPRISONMENT.— 

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

9 whether to reduce a term of imprisonment pursuant 

10 to subsection (a)— 

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

12 section 3553(a), including the nature of the of13 fense and the history and characteristics of the 

14 defendant; and 

15 ‘‘(B) shall consider— 

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

17 time of the offense; 

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

19 time of the sentence modification petition 

20 and relevant data regarding the decline in 

21 criminality as the age of defendants in22 crease; 

23 ‘‘(iii) any presentation of argument 

24 and evidence by counsel for the defendant; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) a report and recommendation of 

2 the Bureau of Prisons, including informa3 tion on whether the defendant has substan4 tially complied with the rules of each insti5 tution in which the defendant has been 

6 confined and whether the defendant has 

7 completed any educational, vocational, or 

8 other prison program, where available; 

9 ‘‘(v) any report and recommendation 

10 of the United States attorney for any dis11 trict in which an offense for which the de12 fendant is imprisoned was prosecuted; 

13 ‘‘(vi) whether the defendant has dem14 onstrated maturity, rehabilitation, and a 

15 fitness to reenter society sufficient to jus16 tify a sentence reduction; 

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

18 presented orally or otherwise, by any vic19 tim of an offense for which the defendant 

20 is imprisoned or by a family member of the 

21 victim if the victim is deceased; 

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

23 mental, or psychiatric examination of the 

24 defendant conducted by a licensed health 

25 care professional; 


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1 ‘‘(ix) the family and community cir2 cumstances of the defendant, including any 

3 history of abuse, trauma, or involvement in 

4 the child welfare system, and the potential 

5 benefits to children and family members of 

6 reunification with the defendant; 

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

8 offense and whether, and to what extent, 

9 an adult was involved in the offense if the 

10 defendant was a juvenile at the time of the 

11 offense; 

12 ‘‘(xi) the diminished culpability of ju13 veniles as compared to that of adults, and 

14 the hallmark features of youth, including 

15 immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to ap16 preciate risks and consequences, if the de17 fendant was a juvenile at the time of the 

18 offense; and 

19 ‘‘(xii) any other information the court 

20 determines relevant to the decision of the 

21 court. 

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

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

24 the date on which the defendant files an application 

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


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1 shall be a rebuttable presumption that the defendant 

2 shall be released. 

3 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON APPLICATIONS PURSUANT TO

4 THIS SECTION.— 

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

6 5 years after the date on which an order denying re7 lease on an initial application under this section be8 comes final, a court shall entertain a second applica9 tion by the same defendant under this section. 

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

11 years after the date on which an order entered by 

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

13 becomes final, a court shall entertain a third appli14 cation by the same defendant under this section. 

15 ‘‘(3) FINAL APPLICATION.—A court shall enter16 tain a final application if the defendant— 

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

18 ‘‘(B) has exhausted the sentencing modi19 fication process. 

20 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.— 

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

22 date on which the 10th year of imprisonment begins 

23 for a defendant sentenced to more than 10 years of 

24 imprisonment for an offense, the Bureau of Prisons 

25 shall provide written notice of this section to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the defendant; and 

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

3 States attorney, and the Federal Public De4 fender or Executive Director of the Community 

5 Defender Organization for the judicial district 

6 in which the sentence described in this para7 graph was imposed. 

8 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.— 

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

10 sentence reduction under this section shall be 

11 filed in the judicial district in which the sen12 tence was imposed as a motion to reduce the 

13 sentence of the defendant pursuant to this sec14 tion and may include affidavits or other written 

15 material. 

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

17 a sentence under this section shall be filed with 

18 the sentencing court and a copy shall be served 

19 on the United States attorney for the judicial 

20 district in which the sentence was imposed. 

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

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

23 filing of a motion to reduce a sentence under 

24 this section, the court may direct the parties to 


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1 expand the record by submitting additional 

2 written materials relating to the motion. 

3 ‘‘(B) HEARING.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The court shall, 

5 upon request of the defendant or the Gov6 ernment, conduct a hearing on the motion, 

7 at which the defendant and counsel for the 

8 defendant shall be given the opportunity to 

9 be heard. 

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

11 this section, the court shall allow parties to 

12 present evidence. 

13 ‘‘(iii) DEFENDANT’S PRESENCE.—At 

14 a hearing under this section, the defendant 

15 shall be present unless the defendant 

16 waives the right to be present. The re17 quirement under this clause may be satis18 fied by the defendant appearing by video 

19 teleconference. 

20 ‘‘(iv) COUNSEL.—A defendant who is 

21 unable to afford counsel is entitled to have 

22 counsel appointed, at no cost to the de23 fendant, to represent the defendant for the 

24 application and proceedings under this sec25 tion, including any appeal, unless the deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146

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1 fendant expressly waives the right to coun2 sel after being fully advised of their rights 

3 by the court. 

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

5 in open court, and file in writing, the rea6 sons for granting or denying a motion 

7 under this section. 

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

9 defendant may file a notice of appeal in the dis10 trict court for review of a final order under this 

11 section. The time limit for filing such appeal 

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

13 Rules of Appellate Procedure. 

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

15 an application under paragraph (2), the United 

16 States attorney shall provide any notifications re17 quired under section 3771. 

18 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

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

20 the date of enactment of the Second Look Act of 

21 2019, and once every year thereafter, the United 

22 States Sentencing Commission shall submit to the 

23 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 

24 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of RepVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2146.IS S2146

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1 resentatives a report on requests for sentence reduc2 tions under this section. 

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

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

5 1-year period preceding the report— 

6 ‘‘(A) the number of— 

7 ‘‘(i) incarcerated individuals who were 

8 granted a sentence reduction under this 

9 section; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) incarcerated individuals who 

11 were denied a sentence reduction under 

12 this section; 

13 ‘‘(B) the number of incarcerated individ14 uals released from prison under this section; 

15 ‘‘(C) the demographic characteristics, in16 cluding race and gender, of— 

17 ‘‘(i) the incarcerated individuals who 

18 applied for a sentenced reduction under 

19 this section; 

20 ‘‘(ii) the incarcerated individuals who 

21 were granted a sentence reduction under 

22 this section; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) the incarcerated individuals who 

24 were released under this section; 


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

2 circuit and State, of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the incarcerated individuals who 

4 applied for a reduction under this section; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the incarcerated individuals who 

6 were granted a reduction under this sec7 tion; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) the incarcerated individuals who 

9 were released under this section; 

10 ‘‘(E) the average sentence reduction grant11 ed under this section; 

12 ‘‘(F) the number of incarcerated individ13 uals 50 years of age or older who applied for 

14 a sentence reduction under this section; 

15 ‘‘(G) the number of incarcerated individ16 uals who are 50 years of age or older who were 

17 granted a sentence reduction under this section; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(H) the number of incarcerated individ20 uals 50 years of age or older who were released 

21 from prison under this section. 

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

23 Attorney General shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) assist and provide information to the 

25 United States Sentencing Commission in the 


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1 performance of the duties of the Commission 

2 under this subsection; and 

3 ‘‘(B) promptly respond to requests from 

4 the Commission.’’. 

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

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

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

8 section 3626 the following: 

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

9 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

10 Section 3582(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amend11 ed— 

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

13 the end; 

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

15 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

17 ‘‘(3) the court may reduce a term of imprison18 ment in accordance with section 3627.’’. 

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

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

21 or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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