Blackburn seeks harsher penalties for career criminals

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on May 12 cosponsored a GOP-led bill that would increase sentences for Americans having three or more previous armed felony convictions.

“The practice of releasing violent serial criminals has to end,” Sen. Blackburn said. “Repeat offenders should not be rewarded with the freedom to needlessly victimize more law-abiding Americans.”

Sen. Blackburn introduced the Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act, S. 1586, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) to seek enhanced penalties against violent, repeat offenders. U.S. Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) also on May 12 introduced the companion bill, H.R. 3153, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill addresses the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), passed by Congress in 1984 to protect communities across the United States from the most dangerous violent criminals. The U.S. Supreme Court effectively voided the ACCA in its 2015 decision in Johnson v. United States, partly due to the unconstitutionally vague definition of ‘violent felony,’ taking away an important tool that law enforcement used to get the worst career criminals off the streets, according to information provided by Sen. Blackburn’s office. 

The Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act would fix the ACCA by ending the legal concepts of ‘violent felony’ and ‘serious drug offense’ by replacing them with a single category: ‘serious felony,’ which would include any crime punishable by 10 years or more, according to the text of the bill.

Defining ‘serious felony’ solely based on the potential term of imprisonment addresses vagueness and removes any discretion or doubt about which offenses qualify, according to Sen. Blackburn’s office.

The bill has garnered support from the National Association of Police Organizations Inc. and the National Sheriffs’ Association.