Judiciary

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, and Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Va., introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act today to bring common sense and flexibility to federal criminal sentencing laws. The bill would allow courts to make individualized assessments in nonviolent drug cases, ensuring that limited resources are focused on the most serious offenders, while maintaining public safety. A companion bill has been introduced in the United States Senate by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). "I am honored to join Congressman Labrador as a cosponsor of the Smarter Sentencing Act," said Rep. Scott. "Granting federal judges more discretion in sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses is the right thing to do. Studies of mandatory minimums conclude that they fail to reduce crime, they waste the taxpayers’ money, they discriminate against minorities, and they often require the imposition of sentences that violate common sense.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the Justice Safety Valve Act (S. 353/H.R. 706) in the Senate and House of Representatives. The Justice Safety Valve Act would give federal judges the ability to impose sentences below mandatory minimums in appropriate cases based upon mitigating factors. “Mandatory minimum sentences have been studied extensively and have been found to distort rational sentencing systems, discriminate against minorities, waste money, and often require a judge to impose sentences that violate common sense,” stated Rep. Scott. “To add insult to injury, studies have shown that mandatory minimum sentences fail to reduce crime. Our bill will give discretion back to federal judges so that they can consider all the facts, issues, and circumstances before sentencing.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the conclusion of the 113th Congress, Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) will end his service as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations on the House Judiciary Committee. From 2007 through 2010, he served as the subcommittee’s Chairman. Additionally, during the 113th Congress, Congressman Scott served as Ranking Member of the bipartisan Task Force on Over-criminalization, which was authorized by the House Judiciary Committee on May 7, 2013. The Task Force was charged with assessing our nation’s current federal criminal justice system and to make recommendations for improvements. While the Task Force did not issue a final report, Congressman Scott recently filed the Democratic Views of the Task Force’s work and findings, including recommended reforms.

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Today, President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 1447, the “Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013,” a bill introduced by Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott. The bill requires states and federal law enforcement agencies to report to the Department of Justice information about deaths of individuals in their custody.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (D-Va.) today applauded last night’s Senate passage of the Death in Custody Reporting Act, bipartisan legislation which requires states to report to the U.S. Department of Justice how many individuals die each year while in police custody or during the course of an arrest. The House of Representatives approved the Death in Custody Reporting Act by voice vote on December 12, 2013, and the bill now goes to the President for his signature.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With increasing numbers of Americans falling victim to drug addiction and overdoses from heroin and opiates, U.S. Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Tom Marino (R-Pa.), Karen Bass (D-Calif.), David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) today introduced bipartisan legislation that could help turn the tide in the struggle against this epidemic. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2014 would provide a series of incentives and resources designed to encourage states and local communities to advance a continuum of proven strategies to combat addiction. Among other things, the bill would expand prevention and education efforts to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin and promote treatment and recovery.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations on the House Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s redacted summary, released today, of its report on the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency: “The declassified summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report confirms that the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program had a policy of torture in contravention of federal law and international conventions. While the CIA suggests that such tactics were necessary to protect the nation from future terrorist attacks, the report indicates that the relationship between many counterterrorism successes cited by the CIA in support of the policy and the ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ was tenuous at best and non-existent at worst.