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July 28, 2014
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the passage of S. 1799, the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013.
This bill passed the Senate last month and provides important services and funding to protect and heal the most vulnerable of all crime victims: our children.
During their participation in the Federal criminal justice system, it will provide and improve the resources available to assist children who are victims of crime. Child victims will be supported through this often lengthy and difficult process by designated victims' coordinators, specialists, and advocates.
Issues:Civil Rights
July 24, 2014
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations on the House Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Anti-Poverty Plan released today:
"I strongly commend Chairman Ryan for endorsing sentencing reform in his Anti-Poverty Plan. Studies of mandatory minimum sentencing have concluded time-and-time again that they fail to reduce crime, they waste the taxpayers’ money, they often require the imposition of sentences that violate common sense, and they unnecessarily destroy families and communities. I am pleased that Chairman Ryan has specifically endorsed the Smarter Sentencing Act, which I have introduced with Republican Congressman Raul Labrador of Idaho. Our bill reduces the harm of mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses by granting discretion to federal judges to sentence below the mandatory minimum.
July 23, 2014
Washington Post Editorial Board endorses Smarter Sentencing Act, introduced by Reps. Bobby Scott and Raul Labrador.
LIBERALS AND conservatives have learned from the drug war’s failures. More jail time may result in less crime, but the costs can be too high. Harsh punishments often catch street-corner dealers, not drug kingpins. The drug war’s foremost legacy is a skyrocketing prison population; the number of drug offenders in federal prisons has increased 21 times since 1980.
Spurred by this alarming reality, the U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously voted last week to give nearly 50,000 inmates the chance to reduce their drug sentences. This came after an April decision to lower sentencing guidelines, the advisory rules given to judges, by an average of one to two years for drug-related crimes.
July 23, 2014
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5076, the Enhancing Services for Runaway and Homeless Victims of Youth Trafficking Act of 2014. I am honored to have joined my colleagues, Mr. Heck and Mr. Kline, and appreciate their leadership on this important issue.
Our bill makes an important change in the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act so that victims of trafficking can be better served. We know that trafficking and youth homelessness often affect similar populations. Young people that have run away or are homeless are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking, and programs targeted towards runaway and homeless youth should be simultaneously equipped to support victims of trafficking when there is such an overlap.
Issues:Civil Rights
July 23, 2014
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5135, the Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2014. This bill is vital to identifying best practices and effective strategies to deter individuals from committing trafficking offenses and to prevent children from becoming victims, and it, therefore, enjoys bipartisan support in the House.
This bill will encourage Federal, State, and local governments to work together as an Interagency Task Force to investigate and enforce the existing laws. This task force will emphasize prosecution of the purchasers of sex with children as child rapists. These purchasers are usually referred to as ``johns'' who pay for sex with children, but insofar as children cannot consent to sex, the johns are legally committing rape and should be prosecuted as rapists.
Issues:Civil RightsForeign Affairs
July 18, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to apply a reduction in the sentencing guideline levels applicable to most federal drug inmates retroactively. Unless Congress disapproves the amendment, beginning November 1, 2014, eligible inmates can ask courts to reduce their sentences. Courts will review a number of individualized factors, including public safety, in consideration of whether to grant these reductions.
July 11, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan group of House members today introduced legislation that would strengthen support for youth who are victims of sex trafficking. The proposed bills would improve identification and assessment of child sex trafficking victims and enhance existing support for runaway and homeless youth.
Issues:Civil RightsEducation
July 7, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) sent a letter to the Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission Patti Saris. This letter comes at the close of the Commission’s comment period on a “drugs minus two” amendment, a proposal that fixes a flaw in the sentencing guidelines that has resulted in excessive sentences for approximately 51,000 currently incarcerated federal drug offenders who have been sentenced since 1987. The Commission has acknowledged that since 1987 the drug guidelines have been higher than necessary for years, due to a miscalculation at the “low end” of the drug sentencing guidelines wherein a low level offense carriers a prison term higher than the mandatory minimum sentence.
Issues:Civil Rights
June 6, 2014
By WAVY News 10
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – Congressman Bobby Scott put on held a forum for frustrated residents in Newport News Thursday night.
The town hall meeting was about gang violence prevention. People packed An Achievable Dream Middle and High School to be a part of it.
They wasted no time venting their frustrations to the audience and their representative, who was in town from Washington.
Issues:Youth PROMISE Act
June 5, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations on the House Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on a recent Virginia delegation letter sent to Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe calling for a statewide task force to address the growing heroin epidemic in the Commonwealth.