II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3935 

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 

MARCH 28, 2022 

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. THUNE, 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: 


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1 (1) Multiple jurisdictions across the United 

2 States— 

3 (A) broke annual homicide records in 

4 2021; 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 (5) In 2020, the National Pretrial Reporting 

23 Program of the Bureau of Justice Statistics awarded 

24 a grant of $2,000,000 to collect information relating 


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1 to individuals charged with felony offenses and re2 leased from criminal pretrial detention. 

3 (6) Neither the National Pretrial Reporting 

4 Program of the Bureau of Justice Statistics nor the 

5 Bureau of Justice Statistics has published any infor6 mation relating to the pretrial release of felony de7 fendants in State courts since the 2020 grant award. 

8 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

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

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

11 Justice Statistics shall submit to Congress a report on in12 formation relating to individuals granted bail and pretrial 

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

14 of the following violent felony offenses: 

15 (1) Murder or attempted murder. 

16 (2) Manslaughter, other than involuntary man17 slaughter. 

18 (3) Rape or attempted rape. 

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

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

21 (6) Aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, at22 tempted sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct. 

23 (7) Battery or aggravated battery. 

24 (8) Kidnapping. 

25 (9) Robbery. 


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1 (10) Resisting or obstructing an officer. 

2 (11) Carjacking. 

3 (12) Recklessly endangering safety. 

4 (13) Illegal possession of a firearm in the com5 mission of a felony. 

6 (14) Any other violent felony offense tracked by 

7 the jurisdiction in which the offense is committed. 

8 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under sub9 section (a) shall include— 

10 (1) the number of individuals granted bail or 

11 pretrial release from State courts that are charged 

12 with an offense described in subsection (a); 

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

14 granted bail or pretrial release, are rearrested or 

15 charged with an additional violent felony offense; 

16 (3) the percentage of individuals granted bail or 

17 pretrial release from State courts who— 

18 (A) are charged with a violent felony of19 fense; and 

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

21 violent felony offense; 

22 (4) with respect to the pretrial releases de23 scribed in paragraph (2) for which the pretrial re24 lease condition was bail, the amount of bail granted 

25 for each individual; 


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1 (5) the number of missed mandatory court ap2 pearances by individuals charged with a violent fel3 ony offense; 

4 (6) the factors used by State courts for assess5 ing whether to grant bail or pretrial release to indi6 viduals who have prior arrests or prior felony convic7 tions for a violent felony offense; 

8 (7) with respect to individuals who have com9 mitted a violent felony offense after being granted 

10 bail or pretrial release, the classification of the vio11 lent felony offenses; 

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

13 this Act, of the National Pretrial Reporting Program 

14 of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the activities 

15 of that Program; and 

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

17 amounts that the Department of Justice has spent, 

18 or transferred to components of the Department of 

19 Justice, in order to collect information on bail and 

20 pretrial release in State courts including, with re21 spect to any grants or contracts awarded for that 

22 purpose, the amount and the purpose of the grant 

23 or contract. 

Æ 


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