II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2317

To provide incentives to encourage stronger truth in sentencing of violent

offenders, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 29, 2000

Mr. DORGAN (for himself and Mr. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide incentives to encourage stronger truth in

sentencing of violent offenders, 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 ‘‘Stop Allowing Felons

5 Early Release (SAFER) Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) violent criminals often serve only a small

9 portion of the terms of imprisonment to which they

10 are sentenced;
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1 (2) a significant proportion of the most serious

2 crimes of violence committed in the United States

3 are committed by criminals who have been released

4 early from a term of imprisonment to which they

5 were sentenced for a prior conviction for a crime of

6 violence;

7 (3) violent criminals who are released before the

8 expiration of the term of imprisonment to which

9 they were sentenced often travel to other States to

10 commit subsequent crimes of violence;

11 (4) crimes of violence and the threat of crimes

12 of violence committed by violent criminals who are

13 released from prison before the expiration of the

14 term of imprisonment to which they were sentenced

15 affects tourism, economic development, use of the

16 interstate highway system, federally owned or sup17 ported facilities, and other commercial activities of

18 individuals; and

19 (5) the policies of one State regarding the early

20 release of criminals sentenced in that State for a

21 crime of violence often affect the citizens of other

22 States, who can influence those policies only through

23 Federal law.

24 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to reduce

25 crimes of violence by encouraging States to incarcerate
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1 violent offenders for the full term of imprisonment to

2 which they are sentenced.

3 SEC. 3. ALLOCATION OF TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING INCEN4 TIVE GRANTS.

5 Section 20106(b) of the Violent Crime Control and

6 Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13706(b)) is

7 amended—

8 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The

9 amounts’’ and inserting the following:

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

11 the amounts’’; and

12 (2) by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(2) REDUCED ALLOCATION FOR CERTAIN

14 STATES.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 3 years

16 after the date of enactment of the Stop Allow17 ing Felons Early Release (SAFER) Act, for

18 each eligible State that has not enacted a stat19 ute meeting the requirements of subparagraph

20 (B), the Attorney General shall reduce the

21 amount allocated under paragraph (1) by 25

22 percent.

23 ‘‘(B) STATUTE DESCRIBED.—A statute

24 meets the requirements of this subparagraph if

25 it results in the elimination of parole, good time
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1 credit release, and any other form of early re2 lease for any person convicted of a part 1 vio3 lent crime, with early release permitted only by

4 approval of the Governor of the State after a

5 public hearing during which representatives of

6 the public, the victims of the part 1 violent

7 crime at issue, and the law enforcement agen8 cies from the jurisdiction in which the part 1

9 violent crime at issue was committed have had

10 an opportunity to be heard regarding the pro11 posed release.

12 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION.—The total amount of

13 the reductions under subparagraph (A) shall be

14 allocated among eligible States that have en15 acted a statute meeting the requirements of

16 subparagraph (B) on a pro rata basis in accord17 ance with paragraph (1).’’.

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