IB
Union Calendar No. 256
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3981
[Report No. 103–463]
To provide mandatory life imprisonment for persons convicted of a third
violent felony.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 8, 1994
Mr. SCHUMER (by request) (for himself, Mr. HOYER, Mr. MAZZOLI, Mr.
GLICKMAN, Mr. SANGMEISTER, Mr. MANN, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr.
RAMSTAD, Mr. LIVINGSTON, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. MANTON, and Mrs. BYRNE)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
MARCH 25, 1994
Additional sponsors: Mr. POMEROY and Ms. SHEPHERD
MARCH 25, 1994
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 8, 1994]
A BILL
To provide mandatory life imprisonment for persons
convicted of a third violent felony.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. IMPRISONMENT OF CERTAIN VIOLENT FELONS.
Section 3559 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-
ed—
(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘An’’ and in-
serting ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (c), an’’ in
lieu thereof; and
(2) by adding the following new subsection at the
end:
‘‘(c) IMPRISONMENT OF CERTAIN VIOLENT FELONS.—
‘‘(1) MANDATORY
LIFE
IMPRISONMENT.—Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, a person
who is convicted in a court of the United States of
a serious violent felony shall be sentenced to life im-
prisonment if—
‘‘(A) the person has been convicted (and
those convictions have become final) on 2 or
more prior occasions in a court of the United
States or of a State of—
‘‘(i) a serious violent felony; or
‘‘(ii) one or more serious violent felo-
nies and one or more serious drug offenses;
and
‘‘(B) each serious violent felony or serious
drug offense used as a basis for sentencing under
this subsection, other than the first, was commit-
ted after the defendant’s conviction of the preced-
ing serious violent felony or serious drug offense.
‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section—
‘‘(A) the term ‘assault with intent to com-
mit rape’ means an offense that has as its ele-
ments engaging in physical conduct by which a
person intentionally places another person in
fear of aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse
(as described in sections 2241 and 2242 of this
title);
‘‘(B) the term ‘arson’ means an offense that
has as its elements maliciously damaging or de-
stroying any building, inhabited structure, vehi-
cle, vessel, or real property by means of fire or
an explosive;
‘‘(C) the term ‘extortion’ means an offense
that has as its elements the extraction of any-
thing of value from another person by threaten-
ing or placing that person in fear of injury to
any person or kidnapping of any person;
‘‘(D) the term ‘firearms use’ means an of-
fense that has as its elements those described in
section 924(c) or 929(a) of this title, if the fire-
arm was brandished, discharged, or otherwise
used as a weapon and the crime of violence or
drug trafficking crime during and relation to
which the firearm was used was subject to pros-
ecution in a court of the United States or a
court of a State, or both;
‘‘(E) the term ‘kidnapping’ means an of-
fense that has as its elements the abduction, re-
straining, confining, or carrying away of an-
other person by force or threat of force;
‘‘(F) the term ‘serious violent felony’
means—
‘‘(i) a Federal or State offense, by
whatever designation and wherever commit-
ted, consisting of murder (as described in
section 1111 of this title); manslaughter
other than involuntary manslaughter (as
described in section 1112 of this title); as-
sault with intent to commit murder (as de-
scribed in section 113(a) of this title); as-
sault with intent to commit rape; aggra-
vated sexual abuse and sexual abuse (as de-
scribed in sections 2241 and 2242 of this
title); abusive sexual contact (as described
in sections 2244(a)(1) and (a)(2) of this
title); kidnapping; aircraft piracy (as de-
scribed in section 902(i)(2) or 902(n)(2) of
the Federal Aviation Act of 1958); robbery
(as described in section 2111 of this title);
carjacking (as described in section 2119 of
this title); extortion; arson; firearms use; or
attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to com-
mit any of the above offenses; or
‘‘(ii) any other offense punishable by a
maximum term of imprisonment of 10
years or more that has as an element the
use, attempted use, or threatened use of
physical force against the person of another
or that, by its nature, involves a substantial
risk that physical force against the person
of another may be used in the course of
committing the offense;
‘‘(G) the term ‘State’ means a State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, or any
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the
United States; and
‘‘(H) 
the 
term 
‘serious 
drug 
offense’
means—
‘‘(i) an offense subject to a penalty pro-
vided for in section 401(b)(1)(A) or 408 of
the Controlled Substances Act or section
1010(b)(1)(A) of the Controlled Substances
Import and Export Act; or
‘‘(ii) an offense under State law that,
had the offense been prosecuted in a court of
the United States, would have been subject
to a penalty provided for in section
401(b)(1)(A) or 408 of the Controlled Sub-
stances Act or section 1010(b)(1)(A) of the
Controlled Substances Import and Export
Act.
‘‘(3) NONQUALIFYING FELONIES.—
‘‘(A) ROBBERY IN CERTAIN CASES.—Rob-
bery, an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to
commit robbery; or an offense described in para-
graph (2)(F)(ii) shall not serve as a basis for
sentencing under this subsection if the defendant
establishes by clear and convincing evidence
that—
‘‘(i) no firearm or other dangerous
weapon was involved in the offense; and
‘‘(ii) the offense did not result in death
or serious bodily injury (as defined in sec-
tion 1365) to any person.
‘‘(B) ARSON
IN
CERTAIN
CASES.—Arson
shall not serve as a basis for sentencing under
this subsection if the defendant establishes by
clear and convincing evidence that.—
‘‘(i) the offense posed no threat to
human life; and
‘‘(ii) the defendant reasonably believed
the offense posed no threat to human life.
‘‘(4) INFORMATION FILED BY UNITED STATES AT-
TORNEY.—The provisions of section 411(a) of the
Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 851(a)) shall
apply to the imposition of sentence under this sub-
section.
‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This subsection
shall not be construed to preclude imposition of the
death penalty.
‘‘(6) SPECIAL PROVISION
FOR INDIAN COUN-
TRY.—No person subject to the criminal jurisdiction
of an Indian tribal government shall be subject to this
subsection for any offense for which Federal jurisdic-
tion is solely predicated on Indian country as defined
in section 1151 of this title and which occurs within
the boundaries of such Indian country unless the gov-
erning body of the tribe has elected that this sub-
section have effect over land and persons subject to the
criminal jurisdiction of the tribe.
‘‘(7) RESENTENCING
UPON
OVERTURNING
OF
PRIOR CONVICTION.—If the conviction for a serious
violent felony which was a basis for sentencing under
this subsection is found, pursuant to any appropriate
State or Federal procedure, to be unconstitutional or
is vitiated on the explicit basis of innocence, or if the
convicted person is pardoned on the explicit basis of
innocence, the person serving a sentence imposed
under this subsection shall be resentenced to any sen-
tence that was available at the time of the original
sentencing.’’.
SEC. 2. LIMITED GRANT OF AUTHORITY TO BUREAU OF
PRISONS.
Section 3582(c)(1)(A) of title 18, United States Code,
is amended—
(1) so that the margin of the matter starting
with ‘‘extraordinary’’ and ending with ‘‘reduction’’
the first place it appears is indented an additional 2-
ems;
(2) by inserting a one-em dash after ‘‘that’’ the
second place it appears;
(3) by inserting a semicolon after ‘‘reduction’’
the first place it appears;
(4) by indenting the first line of the matter re-
ferred to in paragraph (1) and designating that mat-
ter as clause (i); and
(5) by inserting after such matter the following:
‘‘(ii) the defendant is at least 70 years
of age, has served at least 30 years in pris-
on, pursuant to a sentence imposed under
section 3559(c) of this title, for the offense
or offenses for which the defendant is cur-
rently imprisoned, and a determination has
been made by the Director of the Bureau of
Prisons that the defendant is not a danger
to the safety of any other person or the com-
munity, as provided under section 3142(g)
of this title;’’.