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Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act receives unanimous bipartisan support in US House Judiciary Committee

By Douglas Berman

I noted in this post a few days ago that the US House of Representative Committee on the Judiciary on November 2 had a markup scheduled on a set of bills including the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023 (HR 5430).   I predicted that HR 5430 bill would move forward, but I was still pleased to see this press release from a bill sponsor about what transpired:

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today led the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act through the Judiciary Committee.  His bipartisan measure was approved 23 to 0.  In September, Congressman Cohen introduced the bipartisan, bicameral measure with Representative Kelly Armstrong and Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley. This legislation would end the unjust practice of judges increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant has not been convicted.  It will now advance to the full House of Representatives for a floor vote.

During today’s markup of the bill, Congressman Cohen said in part:  “I would like to emphasize that Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) was a strong supporter and an excellent cosponsor and I appreciate him and Senators (Dick) Durbin and (Chuck) Grassley on the Senate side as sponsors. Just about every Supreme Court Justice who’s been around lately – John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia…Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Clarence Thomas, going down to (Neil) Gorsuch and (Brett) Kavanaugh have all said this needs to be changed.  So with that I would ask that we move forward and arrive at justice.  People should be convicted of proven crimes and sentenced for those crimes. That’s why we need this bill – to make sure that people are only sentenced for the crimes they were convicted of.”

So now we know that there is a least one issue that can garner bipartisan and even unanimous support in the US Congress, namely a statutory reform to prohibiting federal punishment based on acquitted conduct.  This notable vote committee certainly does not ensure Congress will get this bill to the desk of the President, but it should serve as a strong message to the US Sentencing Commission that it should have bipartisan support for any acquitted conduct reforms it might be considering during its current amendment cycle.