NCJ Number
106283
Date Published
1987
Length
72 pages
Annotation
Testimony by Oregon Representative Ron Wyden, James Knapp for the U.S. Department of Justice and Bruce Lyons for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers discusses proposed legislation that would stiffen sanctions for convicted felons who receive, transport, or possess a firearm.
Abstract
H.R. 4639 and H.R. 4768 would extend stiffer penalties to serious drug offenders and violent offenders, as well as burglary and robbery felons. Representative Wyden suggests that expanding the categories of career criminal covered by stiffer penalties would lead to more effective crime control. Testimony by Mr. Knapp favors support of H.R. 4768, which is narrower than H.R. 4639 and defines violence in terms of force against persons, in preference to the broader H.R. 4639. Mr. Lyons also expresses a preference for the narrower scope and greater clarity of H.R. 4768. Appended are media articles on mandatory sentencing, drug offenses, and the current operation of the Armed Criminal Act of 1984, which the proposed legislation seeks to amend.