Crime
More on Crime
Thursday, Feburary 11
10:00 a.m. Full Committee Markup (click here to watch)
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Yesterday, President Obama announced that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Department of Justice, in response to the President's directive in July, has issued a report concerning the use of solitary confinement in America. The report includes recommended strategies for prisons at the federal, state, and local levels to pursue, safely reduce solitary confinement, and details changes that the federal Bureau of Prisons will undertake.
"H.R. 1854, the 'Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act of 2015,' reauthorizes funding for and updates the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004.
"I support this bipartisan bill for several reasons.
"H.R. 4240, the 'No Fly for Foreign Fighters Act,' is a common sense measure that supports the Terrorist Screening Database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and, in doing so, will aid in our efforts to combat terrorism and keep our Nation safe.
"Since 2003, the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center helps to identify those individuals known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity by integrating information collected from law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence communities.
"As a longtime champion of reentry and criminal justice reform, I am encouraged by the Committee's continued bipartisan progress in moving reform legislation and today's markup of H.R., 3406, the 'Second Chance Reauthorization Act.'
With its enactment under President George W. Bush in 2008, the Second Chance Act was Congress' first major bipartisan step toward addressing the Nation's exploding prison population. I applaud Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner and Danny Davis of Illinois for their longtime efforts in supporting Second Chance legislation.
The Administration has released a description of the Executive Actions President Obama will be taking to help reduce gun violence in America.
On a bipartisan basis, the House Judiciary Committee has been working on several bills to improve our broken criminal justice system. These bills will insure that our federal criminal laws and regulations are effectively and appropriately enforced, operate with fairness and compassion, protect individual freedom, safeguard civil liberties, work as efficiently as possible, do not impede state efforts, and do not waste taxpayer dollars.
The House Judiciary Committee today approved by voice vote bipartisan legislation to reform federal sentencing laws. The Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 (H.R. 3713) – authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Congressman Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), and Congressman Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) – is part of the House Judiciary Committee's ongoing bipartisan criminal justice reform initiative.
"H.R. 3713, the 'Sentencing Reform Act,' responds to the growing recognition, in our states and now in Congress, that we must make meaningful reforms to various aspects of our criminal justice system – particularly mandatory minimum sentencing.
"As with any policy, it is our responsibility in Congress to examine the facts and make adjustments from time-to-time, and the facts demand that we take action on this issue.