Congressman Cohen Speaks in Favor of and Votes for His Bill Prohibiting the Consideration of Acquitted Conduct in Sentencing

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today addressed the House of Representatives and urged passage of his bill, the Prohibiting Punishment for Acquitted Conduct Act. The bill later passed the House on a vote of 405 to 12.

Congressmen Cohen and Kelly Armstrong (N.D., at large) introduced the measure last year to end the unjust practice of judges increasing sentences based on conduct for which a defendant has not been convicted.

In his speech on the House floor today, Congressman Cohen said, in part:

"I want to thank Mr. Armstrong for working with me on it. He was a strong proponent of the bill and it is truly bipartisan and bicameral...I've got a few pages of speeches here but there's no reasons to – a long time ago I was told – you make the sale and you sit down. The sale has been made, I believe."

See those remarks, including part of the debate, here.

When the Judiciary Committee voted to advance the measure in November, Congressman Armstrong made the following statement:

"The right of criminal defendants to be judged by a jury of their peers is a foundational principle of the Constitution. The current practice of allowing federal judges to sentence defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted by a jury is not right and is not fair."

A similar measure introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was considered in the Senate Judiciary Committee last June and has been advanced to the full Senate.

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