Chapter 18 OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER, HEALTH, SAFETY AND SENSIBILITIES Chapters 18 of S.1400 and the Commission bill and Chapter 9 of S.1 deal with Public Order. Riot Bill The Riot sections-$1801 et seq. of the Commission bill, $1801 et seq. of S.1400, and $2-9B-1 et seq. of S.1-fall within the category of crimes this Committee considers unnecessary in the Federal Law (see Report, pp. 76-77). There are enough existing state, civil and criminal avenues of redress available. Firearms The Firearms and Explosive sections-$1811 et seq. of the Commission bill, $1801 et seq. of S.1400, and §2-9D2 et seq. of S.1-do not go far enough. As we said in our original Report, the Committee supports the Commission majority in its view that Congress should ban production, possession and trafficking in hand guns, with stated exceptions for the military, police, etc., and that it require registration of all firearms (Report, p. 77). Drugs The drug sections of S.1 and S.1400-$2-9E1 and $1821 et seq., respectively-essentially follow the 1970 Drug Act. §1821 of S.1400 selects heroin and morphine for special, more stringent treatment, which we consider laudable, especially by contrast to the Commission Bill which at §§1822 et seq. changes the 1970 Drug Act treatment by singling out hashish, a canabis derivative, for more stringent treatment than marijuana, another canabis derivative. This whole subject is discussed in greater detail in our original Report (pp. 77-80). Gambling §§1831-1932 of the Commission Bill, $§2-9F1-2-9F2 of S.1 derived therefrom, and §§1831-1832 of S.1400 are little different except for degree. S.1 is different in that it includes redundant sections dealing with crimes raging in scope from murder to extortion, which sections are needlessly prolix and unnecessary. As in our prior report on the Commission Bill, we question the inclusion of federal criminal sanctions against gambling. In our view, this is a subject which should be left to state and local regulation, and we suggest that the gambling provisions be dropped (Report, p. 80). Prostitution §§1841 et seq. of the Commission Bill, §§2-9F3-2-9F4 of S.1, and §1841 of S.1400 endeavor to broaden the Mann Act, 18 U.S.C. $2421, along the lines of the existing gambling business laws, 18 U.S.C. §1955. This Committee holds to its previously expressed view that existing state and local sanctions are sufficient and supports regulation of prostitution rather than treatment of it as a crime (Report, p. 80). Chapters 30-36 SENTENCING This portion of this report will compare the sentencing provision of S.1 and S.1400 with the provisions of the Brown Committee bill, which were analyzed in the original report of the Committee, pp. 81-95. The discussion will be divided into seven sections, following the order in which they were presented in the original report. I. General Sentencing Provisions II. Probation and Unconditional Discharge III. Imprisonment IV. Fines V. Parole VI. Disqualification from Office and Other Collateral Consequences of Conviction VII. Life Imprisonment and the Death Penalty. Analysis of the provisions dealing with appellate review of sentencing, dealt with in the original report on page 94, will be included in a separate section. I. General Sentencing Provisions A. Classification of Offenses C.-Sec. 3002 S.1-Sec. 1A5 S.1400 Sec. 105 Following is a chart of the classification of offenses under the S.1 also introduces, in Sec. 1A5, the notion of the "compound" offense (discussed elsewhere in the Committee report), and classifies it the same as a "designated" offense. Comment: 1 The increase in felony categories and concomitant reduction in misdemeanor categories in S.1 is possibly a reaction to the trivialization of federal crime in the Commission bill. It may be, however, that the availability of a convenient felony label will not ameliorate the problem discussed in our earlier report concerning the danger of encouraging both plea bargaining and the assumption of jurisdiction by federal prosecutors. In any event, the pro liferation of both felony and misdemeanor categories in S.1400 is difficult to understand. The availablity of nine classes of crime seems quite excessive. B. Miscellaneous General Provisions C.-Sec. 3001 S.1 Sec. 1-4A1 S.1400 Sec. 2001 These are introductory sections, the noteworthy features of which are as follows: (1) Death penalty-retained in both bills, these provisions will be discussed below. (2) Organizations-as with the Commission bill, both bills deal with special sanctions against organizations, S.1 adds to the penalty for organizations that of "suspension of the right to affect interstate or foreign commerce" for as long as a natural person could be jailed for the same offense. S.1400 and S.1 provide for "notice sanctions," under which an organization would have to publicize its conviction to affected persons. (3) Probation-S.1 introduces the concepts of "strict" and "limited" probation. (4) Restitution S.1 permits the court to order restitution. (5) Split sentences-S.1 modifies the Commission bill by permitting the court, in granting probation, to order the defendant committed "at whatever time or for such intervals within the period of probation as the court determines". (6) S.1400 classifies generally all crimes contained in Titles other than Title 18. Comment: Most of the issues raised in this section will be discussed in the following sections. Three need be noted here. 46-437 - 75-7 (1) Organizations. The sanctions against organizations enumerated in the Commission bill were deemed by the Committee to be inappropriate in certain respects for reasons stated in our initial report. (See p. 81). The new provision in S.1 raises additional problems. While suspending all of the organization's business for a period of time might well be an effective deterrent, it might also be an unfair punishment to those without blame who depend on the organization for their income. We stress again our view that provisions for equitable relief against organizations would be appropriate. We would also note that none of the bills expressly provides for probation sentences against organizations, which we would recommend. (2) Split sentences. The original draft made it clear that the "splitting" was to be done as part of the original sentence. (See Sec. 3106). The language of Sec. 1-4A1 (6) is not so clear, and seems to suggest that the court can maintain jurisdiction over this matter throughout the probationary term. If this is a correct interpretation, it seems that S.1 introduces a degree of uncertainty for the defendant, and raises questions as to the need for procedural and substantive standards for the alteration of the sentence. (3) S.1400 classifies generally all non "Title 18" offenses (Sec. 2002). For reasons expressed in our original report, we disapprove this section. (See pages 33-36.) II. Probation and Unconditional Discharge C.-Sec. 3101 S.1-Sec. 1-4D1 S.1400-Sec. 2101 et seq. A. Terms of Probation (1) S.1 provides for placing persons convicted of either a felony or a misdemeanor on probation for up to five years, and for a violation up to one year. The provision, like the Commission bill, contains a long list of criteria to be considered by the |