Washington, DC – The United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously in favor of adopting a wide range of policy updates Thursday afternoon, including a measure that will further prohibit the consideration of acquitted conduct at sentencing unless that consideration is significantly relevant for the purpose of reducing a sentence. The move comes after the Justice Action Network (JAN) urged the commission to restrict the consideration of acquitted conduct, conduct for which an individual was never convicted, in sentencing for other offenses. JAN Federal Affairs Director JC Hendrickson released the following shortly after the vote:

Today, we write to urge the Commission to go a step further and fully prohibit the consideration of acquitted conduct, except when it may be so compelling as to contribute to the reduction of a sentence.

In addition, we urge the Commission to prioritize research in two areas.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to send the Federal Prison Oversight Act to President Biden’s desk on Wednesday evening. The move follows overwhelming passage in the House in May, and comes amid months of investigations that have revealed shocking human rights abuses in federal prison facilities across the nation. 

Federal Criminal Justice Reform: Options for Policymakers 2025-2029 includes policy options for addressing inefficiencies throughout the criminal justice system – from crime prevention to reentry after a period of incarceration – through the lens of bipartisan cooperation, focusing on policies that have already attained strong support from both elected officials and citizens on both sides of the political aisle.

With more than 30 bipartisan co-sponsors, the bill, which passed 392-2 Tuesday evening, would establish an ombudsman within the DOJ who would be tasked with handling complaints from incarcerated individuals, corrections staff and others, as well as provide for risk-based assessments of federal prison facilities. The House action marks the first major bipartisan floor action on broad bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation this Congress. The bill cleared the House Oversight Committee by a vote of 41-1 last month.

The proposed language would unjustly punish people incarcerated at Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities using the harshest possible means for communication on social media, without regard to whether the communication has a legitimate legal or personal purpose. We believe that a full and total ban would be excessive in its own right, but a ban with significant sanctions for violations is an extreme policy.

A Friday decision from the Supreme Court that split justices by how they interpret the word “and” is garnering renewed interest in federal sentencing and incarceration rates. In Pulsifer v. U.S., Mark E. Pulsifer, who was sentenced for two non-violent drug charges related to selling methamphetamine, argued that he was eligible for relief under former President Trump’s First Step Act because he did not meet all three exclusionary criteria in a list set out in the legislation.

The United States Sentencing Commission held the first of two days of testimony on updated sentencing guidelines Wednesday. The hearings come after an open public comment period for the guidelines ended last month. Among other changes, the proposal would alter how sentences for offenses committed prior to the age of eighteen are considered in the calculation of a defendant’s criminal history score, and eliminate the consideration of offenses for which a person of any age has been acquitted during subsequent interactions with the justice system.

Justice Action Network released the following statement in response to a Thursday report by the Department of Justice that revealed most non-medical deaths in custody could have been prevented:

“The report released today by the Department of Justice is an urgent call to action. No family should ever have to receive a call that a loved one has died while incarcerated simply because a facility was understaffed, under-resourced or out of compliance with BOP policy,” said Inimai Chettiar, Deputy Director for the Justice Action Network “There is strong bipartisan support for comprehensive oversight of our nation’s prisons, and it is long past time for congress to enact the kind of transparency and accountability that will prevent deaths like these in the future.

The proposed amendments are under consideration as more than 150,000 people are currently serving sentences in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, an agency that is chronically understaffed and struggling to manage the safety of staff and incarcerated people. It is imperative that the Commission consider amendments to the Guidelines that consider this backdrop…

Introduced in September by the bipartisan duo of Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023 redefines "acquitted conduct" to include acts for which a person was criminally charged and adjudicated not guilty after trial in a Federal, State, Tribal, or Juvenile court, or acts underlying a criminal charge or juvenile information dismissed upon a motion for acquittal, and precludes a court from considering those acts in sentencing unless it’s for the intention of mitigating the sentence. 

Representatives Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) joined Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX) to introduce the Kenneth P. Thompson Begin Again Act, a bipartisan bill that would remove the age requirement for those seeking an expungement order for a first-time federal drug possession offense.

“No one wants to see Republicans be successful in 2024 more than I do,” said former Congressman Doug Collins, author of the First Step Act. “Voters have made it clear: Americans want stronger economies and safer communities, and the First Step Act has been delivering on both those priorities.