Opinion ID: 534763
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The IDRA and Its Legislative History

Text: 8 The text of the IDRA indicates that Congress intended its release provisions to apply only to persons committed under it. Thus, as already noted, the IDRA establishes procedures for the release of an acquitted person hospitalized pursuant to subsection (e). 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4243(f) (emphasis added). Indeed, the Act consistently limits its applicability to those hospitalized pursuant to its provisions. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4247(e) (periodic reports must be filed for persons hospitalized under Secs. 4241, 4243, 4244, 4245 or 4246); 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4243(h) (governing release of persons hospitalized under Sec. 4243(e) into the community). 9 The legislative history of the IDRA also indicates that Congress intended application only to prospective insanity acquittees. First, the Senate Report makes clear that Congress had the D.C.Code in mind when it passed the IDRA. Indeed, Congress expressly recognized that it was creating for the first time in the Federal System outside the District of Columbia ... a proce dure for committing a defendant who is not found guilty only by reason of insanity. S.REP. NO. 22, 98th Cong., 2nd Sess., 224 (1983) (emphasis added). Thus, if Congress had intended the release provisions of the IDRA to apply to those patients already committed under D.C. law, it seems clear that it would have included specific language making 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4243(f) applicable to Sec. 24-301 committees. 10 The Senate Report also makes clear that Congress felt it could justify the IDRA's requirement that applicants for release prove their case by clear and convincing evidence only because the IDRA mandates a higher degree of proof of insanity at the trial itself: 11 Moreover, the Court in Jones noted that the defendant could be required to prove his insanity at the trial by a higher standard than a mere preponderance of the evidence. For example, he could be required to prove his insanity by clear and convincing evidence, which in turn would justify requiring him ... to prove his present sanity or lack of dangerousness by such a higher standard. Since this bill requires the defendant to prove his insanity as a defense to the criminal charge by clear and convincing evidence, it is clearly constitutional to require those defendants acquitted of violent crimes to prove that they are no longer dangerous or insane by a similar standard. 12 S.REP.No. 225, 98th Cong., 1st Sess., 243 (1983). Since Congress has grounded the legitimacy of imposing a higher burden of proof on applicants for release in the fact that such persons must originally prove their insanity by the same standard, it follows that Congress would not have intended application of the new discharge standards to those persons who proved their insanity by only a preponderance of the evidence under D.C.Code Sec. 24-301. Moreover, Congress clearly had the D.C.Code in mind when it wrote this particular section of the commentary; a footnote to the very next paragraph of commentary in the Senate Report compares the release provisions of the IDRA and the D.C.Code. 6 13 In sum, both the language and legislative history of the IDRA strongly indicate that it was meant to apply only prospectively to those committed after its enactment. Nothing in it provides a reasonable basis for inferring that it should apply to earlier insanity acquittees. Without specific language in that regard, the general presumption of prospective application governs. See generally, Sutherland Statutory Construction, Secs. 41.02, 41.04 (Sands 4th ed.) 1986 (a statute will not be construed as retroactive unless the act clearly, by express language or by necessary implication, indicates that the legislature intended a retrospective application.). 7