United States Sentencing Commission – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In view of an upcoming vacancy in the at-large membership of the Tribal Issues Advisory Group, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to the at-large membership of the Tribal Issues Advisory Group to apply. An applicant for membership in the Tribal Issues Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to the Commission as indicated in the ADDRESSES section below. Application materials should be received by the Commission not later than November 19, 2018.

In view of upcoming vacancies in the membership of the Victims Advisory Group, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who has knowledge, expertise, or experience in federal crime victimization to apply to be appointed to the advisory group. An applicant for membership in the Victims Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to the Commission as indicated in the addresses section below. Application materials should be received by the Commission not later than October 31, 2018.

In view of upcoming vacancies in the voting membership of the Practitioners Advisory Group, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to one of the vacancies to apply. The voting memberships covered by this notice are the circuit memberships for the Third, Fifth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits. An applicant for voting membership of the Practitioners Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to the Commission as indicated in the addresses section below. Application materials should be received by the Commission not later than August 31, 2018.

Pursuant to section 994(a), (o), and (p) of title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing Commission is considering promulgating amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and commentary. This notice sets forth the proposed amendments and, for each proposed amendment, a synopsis of the issues addressed by that amendment. This notice also sets forth several issues for comment, some of which are set forth together with the proposed amendments, and one of which (regarding retroactive application of proposed amendments) is set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

In August 2017, the Commission indicated that one of its policy priorities would be the ``[c]ontinuation of its multiyear study of offenses involving synthetic cathinones (such as methylone, MDPV, and mephedrone) and synthetic cannabinoids (such as JWH-018 and AM- 2201), as well as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), fentanyl, and fentanyl analogues, and consideration of appropriate guideline amendments, including simplifying the determination of the most closely related substance under Application Note 6 of the Commentary to Sec. 2D1.1.'' See 82 FR 39949 (Aug. 22, 2017). As part of its continuing work on this priority, the Commission is publishing this request for public comment on issues related to synthetic cathinones, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and synthetic cannabinoids. The issues for comment are set forth in the Supplementary Information portion of this notice.

In June 2017, the Commission published a notice of proposed policy priorities for the amendment cycle ending May 1, 2018. See 82 FR 28381 (June 21, 2017). After reviewing public comment received pursuant to the notice of proposed priorities, the Commission has identified its policy priorities for the upcoming amendment cycle and hereby gives notice of these policy priorities.

In August 2016, the Commission indicated that one of its policy priorities would be the ``[s]tudy of offenses involving MDMA/ Ecstasy, synthetic cannabinoids (such as JWH-018 and AM-2201), and synthetic cathinones (such as Methylone, MDPV, and Mephedrone), and consideration of any amendments to the Guidelines Manual that may be appropriate in light of the information obtained from such study.'' See 81 FR 58004 (Aug. 24, 2016). As part of its continuing work on this priority, the Commission is publishing this request for public comment on issues related to MDMA/Ecstasy and methylone, one of the synthetic cathinones included in the Commission's study. The issues for comment are set forth in the Supplementary Information portion of this notice.

The United States Sentencing Commission is considering promulgating certain amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and commentary. This notice sets forth the proposed amendments and, for each proposed amendment, a synopsis of the issues addressed by that amendment. This notice also sets forth a number of issues for comment, some of which are set forth together with the proposed amendments, and one of which (regarding retroactive application of proposed amendments) is set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION portion of this notice.

The Commission has decided to establish a Tribal Issues Advisory Group as a standing advisory group pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 995 and Rule 5.4 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. Having adopted a formal charter for the Tribal Issues Advisory Group, the Commission is constituting the initial membership of the advisory group under that charter. Under the charter, the advisory group will consist of no more than 9 members. Of those 9 members, not more than 1 shall be a Federal judge; 2 shall be from the Executive Branch (one from the United States Department of Justice and one from the United States Department of the Interior); 1 shall be from a federal public defender organization or community defender organization; 1 shall be a tribal court judge; and not more than 4 shall be at-large members. To be eligible to serve as a member, an individual must have expertise, knowledge, and/or experience in the issues considered by the Tribal Issues Advisory Group. The Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to the Federal judge membership, the tribal court judge membership, or the at- large membership of the Tribal Issues Advisory Group to apply. Application materials should be received by the Commission not later than October 24, 2016. An applicant for membership in the Tribal Issues Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to the Commission as indicated in the ADDRESSES section below.

The Commission has decided to establish a Federal Public Defenders Advisory Group as a standing advisory group pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 995 and Rule 5.4 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. Having adopted a formal charter for the Federal Public Defenders Advisory Group, the Commission is constituting the initial voting membership of the advisory group under that charter. Under the charter, the advisory group will consist of not more than 17 voting members. Of those 17 voting members, one shall be Chair, one shall be Vice Chair, 12 shall be circuit members (one for each federal judicial circuit other than the Federal Circuit), and three shall be at-large members. As indicated in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below, to be eligible to serve as a voting member, an individual must be an attorney (1) from a federal public defender organization or community defender organization; (2) with significant experience with federal sentencing or post convictions issues related to criminal sentences; and (3) in good standing of the highest court of the jurisdiction or jurisdictions in which he or she is admitted to practice. All voting members are selected and appointed by the Commission. Circuit members must be from a federal public defender organization or federal community defender organization located within the circuit they are appointed to represent. The Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to the initial voting membership of the Federal Public Defenders Advisory Group to apply. Application materials should be received by the Commission not later than August 8, 2016. An applicant for voting membership of the Federal Public Defenders Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to the Commission as indicated in the ADDRESSES section below.

In view of upcoming vacancies in the voting membership of the Practitioners Advisory Group, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to succeed such a voting member to apply. The voting memberships covered by this notice are two circuit memberships (for the Second Circuit and the Ninth Circuit) and two at-large memberships. Application materials should be received by the Commission not later than August 8, 2016. An applicant for voting membership of the Practitioners Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to the Commission as indicated in the addresses section below.

This notice sets forth proposed amendments to the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. The Commission invites public comment on these proposed amendments.

Pursuant to section 994(a), (o), and (p) of title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing Commission is considering promulgating certain amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and commentary. This notice sets forth the proposed amendments and, for each proposed amendment, a synopsis of the issues addressed by that amendment. This notice also sets forth a number of issues for comment, some of which are set forth together with the proposed amendments, and one of which (regarding retroactive application of proposed amendments) is set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION portion of this notice. The proposed amendments and issues for comment in this notice are as follows: (1) A multi-part proposed amendment to the Guidelines Manual to respond to recently enacted legislation and miscellaneous guideline issues, including (A) revisions to Appendix A (Statutory Index) to respond to new offenses established by the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act (USA FREEDOM Act) of 2015, Public Law 114-23 (June 2, 2015), and related issues for comment; (B) revisions to Appendix A (Statutory Index) to respond to changes made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, Public Law 114-74 (Nov. 2, 2015), to existing criminal statutes, and related issues for comment; (C) a revision to Appendix A (Statutory Index) to reference offenses under 18 U.S.C. 1715 (Firearms as nonmailable items) to Sec. 2K2.1 (Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition; Prohibited Transactions Involving Firearms or Ammunition) and a revision to Sec. 2K2.1 to establish a base offense level for such offenses, and a related issue for comment; and (D) a technical amendment to the Background Commentary to Sec. 2T1.6 (Failing to Collect or Truthfully Account for and Pay Over Tax); (2) a two-part proposed amendment to the policy statement pertaining to ``compassionate release,'' Sec. 1B1.13 (Reduction in Term of Imprisonment as a Result of Motion by Director of Bureau of Prisons), including (A) a detailed request for comment on whether any changes should be made to the policy statement and (B) a proposed amendment illustrating one possible set of changes to the policy statement, i.e., to reflect the criteria set forth in the program statement used by the Bureau of Prisons; (3) a proposed amendment to Sec. Sec. 5B1.3 (Conditions of Probation) and 5D1.3 (Conditions of Supervised Release) to revise, clarify, and rearrange the provisions in the Guidelines Manual on conditions of probation and supervised release, and related issues for comment; (4) a proposed amendment to Sec. 2E3.1 (Gambling; Animal Fighting Offenses) to provide higher penalties for animal fighting offenses and to respond to two new offenses relating to attending an animal fighting venture that were established by section 12308 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Public Law 113-79 (Feb. 7, 2014), and related issues for comment; (5) a proposed amendment to the child pornography guidelines, Sec. Sec. 2G2.1 (Sexually Exploiting a Minor by Production of Sexually Explicit Visual or Printed Material; Custodian Permitting Minor to Engage in Sexually Explicit Conduct; Advertisement for Minors to Engage in Production), 2G2.2 (Trafficking in Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor; Receiving, Transporting, Shipping, Soliciting, or Advertising Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor; Possessing Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor with Intent to Traffic; Possessing Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor), and 2G2.6 (Child Exploitation Enterprises), to address circuit conflicts and application issues that have arisen when applying these guidelines, including issues in (A) application of the vulnerable victim adjustment when the offense involves minors who are unusually young and vulnerable (such as infants or toddlers) and (B) application of the tiered distribution enhancement and, in particular, determining the appropriate tier of enhancement to apply when the offense involves a peer-to-peer file-sharing program or network, and related issues for comment; and (6) a multi-part proposed amendment to the guidelines for immigration offenses, including (A) revisions to Sec. 2L1.1 (Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien) to provide options for raising the base offense level for alien smuggling offenses and address offenses involving unaccompanied minors in alien smuggling offenses, and a related issue for comment, and (B) revisions to Sec. 2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States) to (i) generally reduce the use of the ``categorical approach'' in applying the guidelines by measuring the seriousness of a defendant's prior conviction by the length of the sentence imposed on the prior conviction rather than by the type of offense (e.g., ``crime of violence''); (ii) provide higher alternative base offense levels for defendants who have one or more prior convictions for illegal reentry offenses; (iii) provide a new tiered enhancement for defendants who engage in criminal conduct after reentering the United States; (iv) correspondingly reduce the existing tiered enhancement at subsection (b)(1) for defendants who had one or more prior convictions before being deported; and (v) related issues for comment.

In view of upcoming vacancies in the membership of the Victims Advisory Group, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who has knowledge, expertise, and/or experience in the area of federal crime victimization to apply to be appointed to the membership of the advisory group. Applications should be received by the Commission not later than December 28, 2015. An applicant for membership of the Victims Advisory Group should apply by sending a letter of interest and r[eacute]sum[eacute] to the Commission as indicated in the ADDRESSES section below.

Pursuant to its authority under 28 U.S.C. 994(p), the Commission has promulgated amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, commentary, and statutory index. This notice sets forth the amendments and the reason for each amendment.

The Commission has decided to establish a Tribal Issues Advisory Group as an ad hoc advisory group pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 995 and Rule 5.4 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. Having adopted a formal charter for the Tribal Issues Advisory Group, the Commission is constituting the at-large voting membership of the advisory group under that charter. To be eligible to serve as an at- large voting member, an individual must have expertise, knowledge, and/ or experience in the issues considered by the Tribal Issues Advisory Group as indicated in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. The Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to the at-large voting membership of the Tribal Issues Advisory Group to apply. Applications should be received by the Commission not later than January 9, 2015. Applications may be sent to the Commission as indicated in the ADDRESSES section below.

The Commission is interested in forming a new Tribal Issues Advisory Group, on an ad hoc or continuing basis, or establishing other means to study issues that have been raised in recent years related to the operation of the federal sentencing guidelines in Indian Country and areas that have significant American Indian population. Therefore, the Commission hereby requests comment on the merits of forming such a group, including comment on the scope, duration, and potential membership of any such advisory group.

The Sentencing Commission hereby gives notice of an amendment to a policy statement and commentary made pursuant to its authority under 28 U.S.C. 994(a) and (u). The Commission promulgated an amendment to Policy Statement Sec. 1B1.10 (Reduction in Term of Imprisonment as a Result of Amended Guideline Range) clarifying when, and to what extent, a sentencing reduction is considered consistent with the policy statement and therefore authorized under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2). The amendment expands the listing in Sec. 1B1.10(d) (as redesignated by Amendment 1 of the amendments submitted to Congress on April 30, 2014) to include Amendment 782 (Amendment 3 of the amendments submitted to Congress on April 30, 2014) as an amendment that may be available for retroactive application. The amendment also inserts a new subsection (e) to the policy statement with a special instruction requiring that any order granting sentence reductions based on Amendment 782 shall not take effect until November 1, 2015, or later, and adds a new application note to Sec. 1B1.10 to explain and clarify this special instruction.

Because the terms of certain voting members of the Practitioners Advisory Group are expiring as of October 2014, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to succeed such a voting member to apply. The voting memberships covered by this notice are two circuit memberships (for the Fourth Circuit and the Eight Circuit). Applications should be received by the Commission not later than August 1, 2014. Applications may be sent to the Commission as indicated in the addresses section below.

The United States Sentencing Commission hereby gives notice of the following actions: (1) Pursuant to its authority under 28 U.S.C. 994(p), the Commission has promulgated amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, commentary, and statutory index. This notice sets forth the amendments and the reason for each amendment. (2) Amendment 3, pertaining to drug offenses, has the effect of lowering guideline ranges. The Commission requests comment regarding whether that amendment, or any part thereof, should be included in subsection (c) of Sec. 1B1.10 (Reduction in Term of Imprisonment as a Result of Amended Guideline Range (Policy Statement)) as an amendment that may be applied retroactively to previously sentenced defendants. This notice sets forth the request for comment.

On April 30, 2013, the Commission submitted to the Congress amendments to the sentencing guidelines and official commentary, which become effective on November 1, 2013, unless Congress acts to the contrary. Such amendments and the reasons for amendment subsequently were published in the Federal Register. 78 FR 26425 (May 6, 2013). The Commission has made technical and conforming amendments, set forth in this notice, to commentary provisions and policy statements related to those amendments.

Because the terms of certain voting members of the Practitioners Advisory Group are expiring as of October 2013, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to succeed such a voting member to apply. The voting memberships covered by this notice are three circuit memberships (for the Third Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the District of Columbia Circuit). Applications should be received by the Commission not later than August 19, 2013. Applications may be sent to the address listed below.

Pursuant to its authority under 28 U.S.C. 994(p), the Commission has promulgated amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, commentary, and statutory index. This notice sets forth the amendments and the reason for each amendment.

Because a voting membership of the Practitioners Advisory Group has become vacant before the expiration of the term, the United States Sentencing Commission hereby invites any individual who is eligible to be appointed to complete the unexpired term to apply. See section 2(c) of the charter for the advisory group (``When a voting membership becomes vacant before the expiration of the term, an appointment shall, wherever practicable, be made to complete the unexpired term.''). The voting membership covered by this notice is the circuit membership for the Sixth Circuit, and the individual appointed would complete the remainder of the unexpired term, which expires as of October 2014. Applications should be received by the Commission not later than February 1, 2013. Applications may be sent to the address listed below.

On April 30, 2012, the Commission submitted to the Congress amendments to the sentencing guidelines and official commentary, which become effective on November 1, 2012, unless Congress acts to the contrary. Such amendments and the reasons for amendment subsequently were published in the Federal Register. 77 FR 28225 (May 11, 2012). The Commission has made technical and conforming amendments, set forth in this notice, to commentary provisions and policy statements related to those amendments.