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The
U.S. Sentencing Commission, the agency which sets sentencing
guidelines for federal judges, could also vote to implement a
key part of major gun law passed last year.
That provision would stiffen prison sentences for straw
purchasers - proxy buyers who purchase a firearm on behalf of
someone else, a policy change which advocates warn could
disproportionately impact Black people.
The seven-member, bipartisan panel in January also proposed that
terminal illness or advanced age could be considered
"extraordinary and compelling reasons" for compassionate
release.
The panel was hamstrung several years when it did not have a
full voting quorum.
Requests for compassionate release surged during the COVID-19
pandemic, with 7,014 motions filed in fiscal year 2020. Those
requests have not been granted on a consistent basis without the
panel's guidance.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opposed some aspects of the
proposal, saying it would "greatly expand compassionate release
in ways that Congress did not intend."
The Justice Department has also opposed another proposal that
would prevent judges from imposing longer prison sentences on
criminal defendants for acquitted conduct.
Under current practice, a defendant who is acquitted on some
counts and convicted on others could still face a harsher
sentence if the judge opts to factor that acquitted conduct into
how he or she calculates a prison term.
While juries must consider whether a criminal charge is proven
beyond a reasonable doubt, judges may use a "preponderance of
evidence," a lower standard of proof, when sentencing a
defendant.
Several cases are pending before the U.S. Supreme Court to bring
an end to the practice.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Andy Sullivan
and Aurora Ellis)
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