was the smarter sentencing act 2021 passed was the smarter sentencing act 2021 passed

Visit us on Mastodon The bills titles are written by its sponsor. Our burgeoning prison population traces much of its growth to the increasing number and length of certain federal mandatory sentences. . The MOREAct would have allowed cannabis companies to open bank accounts and would have retroactively permitted changes in pot-based sentences. So the climate for criminal justice reform is getting ugly. ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. Additionally, organizations were behind the bill and actively encouraging its passage. The document discussed the sentencing guidelines causing life sentences to be issued for various types of offenses. But then, Attorney General Merrick Garland picked the middle of the negotiations to issue a memo directing federal prosecutors to promote the equivalent treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses in two ways. Introduced in Senate (03/25/2021) Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 This bill reduces statutory mandatory minimum penalties for certain drug offenses, requires reporting on the impact of cost savings from the reductions, and establishes a public database of federal criminal offenses. See Terms of Service, Then, Sen Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and introduced his, Sen. Booker then sought unanimous consent to release the stand-alone version of the, Grassley was enraged, blasting the Garland memo as demanding that prosecutors ignore the text and spirit of federal statutes [and] undermining legislative efforts to address this sentencing disparity. And just like that, when the text of the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion spending bill was released, the watered-down, FAMM vice president Molly Gill wants to see the, The fact that a large number of House Republicans joined Democrats in passing the, Congress was recessed all last week and for part of this one, so no legislative progress was made on the, But both senior senators acknowledge its not a glide path forward,, Meanwhile, Durbin said hes concerned about a, Senate aides on both sides of the aisle warn that, Since Bidens inauguration, criminal justice reform has taken a back seat to his more prominent initiatives, last Marchs, A couple of bills before Congress would reduce but not eliminate mandatory minimums: the, In the House, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina) introduced the. Founded in 1991, FAMM is helping transform Americas criminal justice system by uniting the voices of impacted families and individuals and elevating the issues all across the country. I think that the time is right for its passage given the makeup of congress and the need for reform. I certainly hope that it passes this year. However, despite Garlands testimony, his Department of Justice has given no sign that it will stop pursuing mandatory minimums. The act also proposes to trade the language of "Felony Drug Offense" in 841 with "serious drug felony" or "serious violent felony," the new language from the FIRST STEP Act of 2018. Any judges looking for future promotions are going to think twice about letting violent criminals go or giving them a slap on the wrist, rather than following the law and imposing serious sentences for those who have committed serious crimes., [Editors note: While it is correct that Cruz has been described by one conservative columnist as being like a serpent covered in Vaseline who treats the American people like two-bit suckers in 10-gallon hats, some maintain that there are good snakes in Texas (but Sen. Cruz is not on their list). The mandatory minimum for a courier under 21 USC 960, the importation statute, would essentially be cut in half. cutting mandatory minimums in 21 USC 960 for drug mules carrying drugs into the country courier in half. Esta pgina no est disponible en espaol. The House version of the Act had 18 co-sponsors by February 2014. The sleeper in S.1014is that it would let virtually anyone sentenced under 841(c) prior to the 2018 First Step Actseek a reduction using a procedure a lot like the Fair Sentencing Act retroactivity motions. On March 25, 2021, Senators Durbin and several others introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. This bill was introduced on March 25, 2021, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books. Most of the original text was lined through and new text was incorporated. The 113th Congress held several hearing and heard testimony through 2013 and 2014 without passage. That means that the reform bills now in front of Congress still have a chance. All rights reserved. This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 20:14. The First Step Act was a critical move in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done to reform our criminal justice system. Since then, the mandatory minimums paradigm has come under fire for three primary reasons: the reallocation of power from judges to prosecutors; the extension of racism and classism; and the failure to advance community safety. This bill would eliminate the crack/powder disparity that results in longer mandatory minimum sentences for Black Americans; but it would not end mandatory minimums. Any bill now pending in the House or Senate that has not passed will disappear on Jan 3, when the new 2-year Congress the 118th convenes. Please help us make GovTrack better address the needs of educators by joining our advisory group. So when will Congress get to any criminal justice reform measures? Meanwhile, the less culpable little fish are yoked with high mandatory minimums. Sen. Cotton, a hardline prohibitionist described by Beforeitsnews.com as someone who has never met a drug penalty he thought was too severe, objected. No one knows. from 20 years to 10 years for a high-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. It would not affect mandatory minimums in21 USC 841(b). The full list of cosponsors includes:Sens. People like Cottonmake even common-sense federal criminal justice reform a hard sell. Any of these reforms would be a step toward establishing a new paradigm that abjures mandatory minimums and respects human dignity. Racial disparities in the application of mandatory minimums are a particularly stark illustration of Wilkersons thesis. While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the, SMARTER SENTENCING ACT RE-INTRODUCED IN SENATE, A lot of what had been contained in prior versions of the. That means there are other bills with the number S. 2850. The clocks running out. They become casualties of a process that sets aside proportionality or mercy in favor of increasing the number of convictions. Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. But efforts were severely hobbled last fall when Senate Majority Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced their own version of weed reform, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (S.4591). The current MORE Act has collected only one Republican co-sponsor. In 1970, Congress repealed most drug-related mandatory minimums, taking more of apublic health approachto drug policy. And then there are demagogues like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). While Ohio State law professor Doug Berman is skeptical of their chances, he notes that prior iterations of [the Smarter Sentencing Act] got votes in Senate Judiciary Committee from the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. The confusion was compounded because we were unable to locate a draft of the, Currently, a single misdemeanor in ones background can disqualify the defendant from, After years of urging by the Sentencing Commission and studies showing that Congress rationale for the, Currently, the Byzantine sentencing regime in, The bill does not explicitly make any change it proposes retroactive other than the extension of the, Legal Information Services Associates LLC, Showing Some Compassion: 18 USC 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), Blue Christmas for Criminal Justice Reform Update for December 27, 2022, Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, EQUAL Act But Unequal Reform? Even though federal prosecutors all of whom are subject to supervision by the Department of Justice have long been the primary proponents of mandatory minimums, Attorney General Merrick Garland affirmed this position during his confirmation hearings: We should . The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that implementation of this provision would save taxpayers approximately $3 billion over ten years. The defendants in crack cases were overwhelmingly black. The mandatory minimum for a courier under 21 USC 960, the importation statute, would essentially be cut in half. That gives it a fighting chance of passing in todays barely Democrat-controlled Congress.. Youve cast your vote. The bill was held over during several meetings in the fourth quarter of 2013. S.1014 applies the same serious drug felony definition to all three subsections. It would do so in three ways: First, it would expand eligibility for the drug safety valve so that people with some criminal history up to Guidelines Category II would still be eligible. It also added language making the reforms applicable to past cases. The Act was passed by a vote of 13 to 5. Florida experienced a50 percent spikein crimeafterenacting mandatory minimums. Mandatory minimum penalties have played a large role in the explosion of the U.S. prison population, often leading to sentences that are unfair, fiscally irresponsible, and a threat to public safety, Sen. Durbin said in a press release. Heres how you can help. The bipartisan bill introduction was led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). Sentencing Reform: Smarter Sentencing Act @SentencingR SUPPORT PAGE FOR SENTENCING REFORM *TITLE S.1013-117th CONGRESS (2021-2022): SMARTER SENTENCING ACT 2021* Pennsylvania, USA Joined June 2021 0 Photos and videos Photos and videos Tweets TweetsTweets, current page. 3617) exactly none made it past the Senate during the two-year Congress that ends in a week. Download PDF II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1013 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 25, 2021 The Smarter Sentencing Act is a commonsense solution that will greatly reduce the financial, and more importantly the human, cost imposed on society by the broken status quo. We are experienced, and know what it takes to present a successful defense in a federal criminal case. |title=S. Paradoxically, by criticizing arbitrary sentencing practices, these reformers (chief among them, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts) ultimately helped usher in the current tough-on-crime era. S.1933, Smarter Sentencing Act of 2017 (introduced Oct. 5, 2017), There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice. ~ Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brde et de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law (1748), Copyright 2022, LISA Foundation and Legal Information Services Associates LLC. Meanwhile, Durbin said hes concerned about a Second Step Acts prospects for passage, particularly given Republican accusations during Jacksons confirmation hearings that the justice-in-waiting was soft on crime. Under the proposed change, a couple of felonies will be too much, but more young defendants facing their first serious criminal charge would be sentenced under a scheme that let the judge weigh individual factors rather than applying an inflexible and harsh minimum sentence. stream 2021. So what is real? As written The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. TheFirst Step Actwas a critical move in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done to reform our criminal justice system. By joining our advisory group, you can help us make GovTrack more useful and engaging to young voters like you. |publisher=GovTrack.us But, in keeping with the chaos that arises from a paradigm shift, by the mid-1970s, anti-imprisonment and anti-discrimination reformers on the left beganrailingagainst the rehabilitative model because it gave judges too much discretion, precipitating disparities. Zip. Only a few bills have been voted out of committee in the Senate the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act, the First Step Implementation Act of 2021, and the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act. We must instead heedJustice Sonia Sotomayors messagethat, until we value the lives, rights, and liberties of those on the receiving end of the system, our justice system will continue to be anything but.. 920, the Smarter Sentencing Act", http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/10-01-15%20Sentencing%20Reform%20and%20Corrections%20Act%20-%20Bill%20Text.pdf, "Kinder, gentler: Less time inside for less-serious crimes", "Too many Americans are incarcerated for too long", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smarter_Sentencing_Act&oldid=1133844659, United States proposed federal criminal legislation, Proposed legislation of the 113th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 114th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 115th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 116th United States Congress, Proposed legislation of the 117th United States Congress, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. its mandate to formulate guidelines to minimize the likelihood that the federal prison population will exceed federal prison capacity, the intent of Congress that penalties for violent and serious drug traffickers who present public safety risks remain appropriately severe, and. The bill continued to gain momentum in the Senate and House. Chuck Grassley U.S. Senate 135 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley: We are writing to urge you to advance the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill that promotes , as President Biden has suggested, seek the elimination of mandatory minimum[s].. As of 03/27/2021 text has not been received for S.1013 - A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders. WASHINGTON Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) cosponsored the Smarter Sentencing Act, bipartisan legislation designed to bring judicial discretion and flexibility to non-violent drug charge sentencing. The Justice Roundtable, Durbin, Lee Reintroduce Smarter Sentencing Act (Nov. 16). The bad news is everything else. However, Durbins office said the central remaining sentencing reform in the Lee-Durbin legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses.. Senate aides on both sides of the aisle warn that EQUAL could still face a challenging path to final passage, including a potentially arduous debate over amendments. 802), by adding at the end the following: (2)in section 401(b)(1) (21 U.S.C. Your poor, dumb peasant from El Cocador humping marijuana across the border or clueless young woman flying in to JFK from East Slobovia with heroin in the liner of her suitcase These are the couriers, the lowest of the low-level defendant being paid maybe two shekels for hauling someone elses big score. %PDF-1.5 While the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the crack-cocaine disparity bill last year, it has yet to schedule a markup. The Task Force expired in November 2013, but advocates supported a re-authorization for another six-month term and asked the chairman to hold a hearing on sentencing laws. Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. Copyright 2016-Present The Law Office of Jeremy Gordon. (2023). The bill also refines a number of Sentencing Commission goals such as keeping down the prison population and ensuring that Guidelines dont have adverse racial impacts. In a political environment where the parties compete for who can be more pro-criminal, the Democrats will always win. In the House, the EQUAL Act is the only criminal justice bill voted out of committee. In sum, the so-called 65% bill is like a pink unicorn: fun to imagine, but not real. Join 10 million other Americans using GovTrack to learn about and contact your representative and senators and track what Congress is doing each day. The SSA will give judges the flexibility and discretion they need to impose stiff sentences on the most serious drug lords and cartel bosses, while enabling nonviolent . U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for Aug. 10, 2023. The text goes on further directing the United States Sentencing Commission to consider the safety of the public when reducing the sentences of offenders and the Attorney General to report on the results of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015. Required fields are marked *, There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice. ~ Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brde et de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law (1748), Copyright 2022, LISA Foundation and Legal Information Services Associates LLC. (A)in the flush text following clause (viii), (i)by striking "10 years or more" and inserting "5 years or more"; For nearly three decades, FAMM has united the voices of affected families, the formerly incarcerated, and a range of stakeholders and advocates to fight for a more fair and effective justice system. Amends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (CSIEA) to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, possessing, importing, or exporting specified controlled substances. WASHINGTON - FAMM President Kevin Ring released the following statement in support of the U.S. Senate introduction of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, which would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenses. Help us develop the tools to bring real-time legislative data into the classroom. 13 Cosponsors But the real work is to be done in Congress, whas yet to progress. First, a letter sent last week by 25 state attorneys general to House and Senate leadership, urging an expansion of Section 404 of the First Step Act to include people sentenced under 21 USC 841(b)(1)(C). Of all the criminal justice reform bills in Congress the First Step Implementation Act (S.1014), the Smarter Sentencing Act (S.1013), the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act (S.312), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act (S.601), the EQUAL Act (S.79) and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (H.R. The Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 was a continued effort from the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013/2014. The bill would also apply these changes retroactively, giving people currently in prison an opportunity to receive a new sentence under the reformed law. Bills numbers restart every two years. All 50 statesand DC also have mandatory minimum sentencing laws. <> . A lot of what had been contained in prior versions of the SSA, a bill which has been introduced in every Congress since 2013, was included in the First Step Act. A Bi-partisan Summit on Criminal Justice Reform, met in March 2015 to discuss reforming America's criminal justice system and received national news coverage. We love educating Americans about how their government works too! Other problems flow from this perversion of the power balance. Sponsor. That deeply flawed legislation reduced sentences for crack dealers and granted early release to some child predators, carjackers, gang members, and bank robbers. US Congress S1013 Summary Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 This bill reduces statutory mandatory minimum penalties for certain drug offenses, requires reporting on the impact of cost savings from the reductions, and establishes a public database of federal criminal offenses. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and 11 cosponsors introduced S.1013, the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, seeking once again to reform some drug mandatory minimums. A 65% bill would stand a chance of passage approaching zero. It was the end of 2020. The House just passed Sen. Cory BookersEQUAL Actby a bipartisan vote, withthe Biden administrations endorsement. First, mandatory minimums shackle judges. If youve visited a bill page on GovTrack.us recently, you may have noticed a new study guide tab located just below the bill title. Sens. 1013 117th Congress: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. www.GovTrack.us. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 14 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Please sign up for our advisory group to be a part of making GovTrack a better tool for what you do. Another study similarly finds that some federal prosecutors charge Black and Latino individuals more often than white individuals with possession or sale of a quantity of drugs just sufficient to trigger a mandatory minimum; the disparity is highest in states with higher levels of racial animus.. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that implementation of this provision would save taxpayers approximately $3 billion over ten years. The important but piecemeal work of criminal justice reform continued last week with two significant bills being introduced in the Senate. The First Step Act was a critical move in the right direction, but there is much more work to be done to reform our criminal justice system. We hope that with your input we can make GovTrack more accessible to minority and disadvantaged communities who we may currently struggle to reach. The central remaining sentencing reform in the Durbin-Lee legislation would reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses. from 10 years to 5 years for a low-level offense after one prior felony drug offense. I will keep fighting to get this commonsense, bipartisan legislation through the Senate with my colleague, Senator Lee.. Thus, a crack defendant sentenced August 3, 2009, was hammered with the 100:1 ratio, while a defendant sentenced August 3, 2010, was treated more in line with what a cocaine powder defendant would face. If it did exist, it wouldnt get one now. The sleeper in S.1014is that it would let virtually anyone sentenced under 841(c) prior to the 2018 First Step Actseek a reduction using a procedure a lot like the Fair Sentencing Act retroactivity motions. This activity took place on a related bill, S. 1152. We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, andsentencing issues. Mandatory minimum penalties have played a large role in the explosion of the U.S. prison population, often leading to sentences that are unfair, fiscally irresponsible, and a threat to public safety, Sen. Durbin said in a press release. Right now, a defendant with two prior drug felonies (no matter how old) caught with five kilos of cocaine gets a mandatory life term: no ifs, ands or buts. Federal Criminal Cooperation (Rule 3553 and the Safety Valve), Federal Halfway Houses and Home Confinement, Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions. S. 1013: Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021 Overview Summary Cosponsors Details Text Study Guide The text of the bill below is as of Mar 25, 2021 (Introduced). The United States Senate has Bought forth the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021, which will do much for mandatory minimums and "Couriers" if passed. 2023 Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, about Independent Oversight Is Essential for a Safe and Healthy Prison System, about There Is No One Answer to Over-Policing and Mass Incarceration There Are Many, about How Some European Prisons Are Based on Dignity Instead of Dehumanization, Government Targeting of Minority Communities, National Task Force on Democracy Reform & the Rule of Law, reentered the federal system with a vengeance, provide prosecutors with weapons to bludgeon defendants into effectively coerced plea bargains, in states with higher levels of racial animus, incarceration is inherently criminogenic, long-standing directive to federal prosecutors, Obama administrations efforts to temper mandatory minimums, Congress must repeal federal mandatory minimums, Mandatory Minimum Sentence Reform Act of 2017, Independent Oversight Is Essential for a Safe and Healthy Prison System, There Is No One Answer to Over-Policing and Mass Incarceration There Are Many, How Some European Prisons Are Based on Dignity Instead of Dehumanization. In the House, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina) introduced the first GOP-sponsored bill in Congress to legalize marijuana, hinting that there may be openness to a bipartisan solution in the future. Congress must repeal federal mandatory minimums, make the change retroactive for those already serving mandatory minimum sentences, and incentivize states to follow suit. If anything, the EQUAL Acts failure was a bigger disappointment. And we will start all over again, but with a much unfriendlier House of Representatives. Edits include language to define a serious violent felony and reducing the terms on a number of drug offenses. The fact that a large number of House Republicans joined Democrats in passing the EQUAL Act last year is not reassuring: the trick will be getting a Republican speaker who controls what comes up for a vote put the bill in front of the chamber. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. And our overreliance on prisons makes us less safe bydiverting resourcesfrom other critical public safety needs. Since 1980, the number of inmates in federal prison has increased by 653%. Unfortunately, to convince recalcitrant senators to support it, the retroactivity portions of the law were stripped out. The bill does not explicitly make any change it proposes retroactive other than the extension of the FSA, but a fair reading of Section 5 of the SSAsuggests that the Sentencing Commission should do so according to its retroactivity procedures. The Smarter Sentencing Act, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, would take some of the sting out of federal drug sentencing. The Smarter Sentencing Act proposes similar adjustments: (b)(1)(A): The 15-year mandatory minimumfor a prior drug offense would drop to 10 years, and the 10-year mandatory minimumfloor would drop to 5 years. My kids need their father home and I would love to have the help and our family complete . 224 Dirksen Senate Office Building Lee and Durbin first introduced theSmarter Sentencing Actin 2013. Several important reforms from theSmarter Sentencing Actwere included in the landmark First Step Act, which was enacted into law in 2018. On November 5, 2015 there was a significant move with the legislation. The, Additionally, the bill corrects a weird anomaly in the, As for the two new bills, introduction hardly means approval. There is no Easter Bunny. [7], On March 11, 2014 updates were done. The Smarter Sentencing Act is a commonsense solution that will greatly reduce the financial and, more importantly, the human cost imposed on society by the broken status quo. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss. This page is sourced primarily from It faces another battle to pass through the rest of Congress, and Utahs delegation should be there to vote in support. The Senate has to confirm at least three new members and none has yet been nominated by President Biden before the Commission can do anything. On the contrary, we suffer from an under-incarceration problem. The column called on Congress to end the jailbreak of slashed sentences and the broader civilizational suicide of the criminal justice reform., Politico, Criminal justice reform faces political buzzsaw as GOP hones its midterm message (April 14, 2022), Politico, Whats next for criminal justice reform? His legislative record is riddled with bills he supported, and sometimes wrote, that filled BOP cells and encouraged states to do the same. endobj As Isabel Wilkersonwrites, our countrys racial caste system relies on dehumanization to lock the marginalized outside the norms of humanity so that any action against them is seen as reasonable. So many of the horrors Wilkerson catalogs in the program of purposeful dehumanization instituted by the Nazis and by the United States during chattel slavery have analogues in todays carceral state: anonymous uniforms replacing clothing, inmate numbers supplanting names, the shaving of heads, the roll calls. Your email address will not be published. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) and cosponsored by 11of their colleagues. Given that commitment, Prez Biden should be a vocal supporter of this bill or should oppose it only because it does not go far enough because it merely seeks to reduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain nonviolent drug offenses, rather than entirely eliminate them. The Brennan Center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute, striving to uphold the values of democracy. United States Senators Bring Forth Smarter Sentencing Act of 2021. It goes without saying that this would be a great bill if it manages to pass Congress and get to President Obama. A paradigm shift occurs in three phases: it starts with a dominant paradigm, moves through a crisis phase, and ends with a revolutionary change in world-view that constitutes a new dominant paradigm. The five-year mandatory minimum (for 100 grams or more of heroin or 500 grams or more of cocaine) would drop to two years. In March 2020, in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which among other things, created a temporary federal unemployment .