United States HR 1621: Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021

Bill Text

I 
117THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION 
H. R. 1621 
To amend section 3661 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the 
consideration of acquitted conduct at sentencing. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
MARCH8, 2021 
Mr. C
OHEN(for himself and Mr. ARMSTRONG) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A  BILL  
To  amend  section  3661  of  title  18,  United  States  Code,  
to  prohibit  the  consideration  of  acquitted  conduct  at  sen-
tencing. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This  Act  may  be  cited  as  the  ‘‘Prohibiting  Punish-4
ment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021’’. 5
SEC. 2. ACQUITTED CONDUCT AT SENTENCING. 6
(a) U
SE OFINFORMATION FORSENTENCING.— 7
(1)   A
MENDMENT.—Section   3661   of   title   18,   8
United  States  Code,  is  amended  by  inserting  ‘‘,  ex-9
cept  that  a  court  of  the  United  States  shall  not  con-10
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sider,  except  for  purposes  of  mitigating  a  sentence,  1
acquitted  conduct  under  this  section’’  before  the  pe-2
riod at the end. 3
(2)  A
PPLICABILITY.—The  amendment  made  by  4
paragraph  (1)  shall  apply  only  to  a  judgment  en-5
tered  on  or  after  the  date  of  enactment  of  this  Act.  6
(b)  D
EFINITIONS.—Section  3673  of  title  18,  United  7
States Code, is amended— 8
(1)  in  the  matter  preceding  paragraph  (1),  by  9
striking ‘‘As’’ and inserting the following: 10
‘‘(a) As’’; and 11
(2) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(b) As used in this chapter, the term ‘acquitted con-13
duct’ means— 14
‘‘(1) an act— 15
‘‘(A)  for  which  a  person  was  criminally  16
charged and with regard to which— 17
‘‘(i)  that  person  was  adjudicated  not  18
guilty  after  trial  in  a  Federal,  State,  or  19
Tribal court; or 20
‘‘(ii)  any  favorable  disposition  to  the  21
person  in  any  prior  charge  was  made,  re-22
gardless   of   whether   the   disposition   was   23
pretrial, at trial, or post trial; or 24
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‘‘(B)  in  the  case  of  a  juvenile,  that  was  1
charged  and  for  which  the  juvenile  was  found  2
not   responsible   after   a   juvenile   adjudication   3
hearing; or 4
‘‘(2) any act underlying a criminal charge or ju-5
venile information dismissed— 6
‘‘(A)  in  a  Federal  court  upon  a  motion  for  7
acquittal  under  rule  29  of  the  Federal  Rules  of  8
Criminal Procedure; or 9
‘‘(B)  in  a  State  or  Tribal  court  upon  a  mo-10
tion  for  acquittal  or  an  analogous  motion  under  11
the  applicable  State  or  Tribal  rule  of  criminal  12
procedure.’’. 13
Æ 
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