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TO PROVIDE FOR SUMMARY PROSECUTION OF PETTY

OFFENSES

MAY 29, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. GRAHAM, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 9937]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill H. R. 9937, after consideration reports the same favorably with amendments and recommends that the bill as amended do pass. The committee amendments are as follows:

Page 1, lines 3, 4, and 5, strike out the words "casual or slight violations of Title II of the national prohibition act" and insert in lieu thereof the words "petty offenses'

Page 2, line 11, strike out the words "finding and".

Page 2, line 12, strike out the words "and finding".

Page 2, line 13, strike out the word "confirm" and insert the word "approve".

Page 2, line 15, strike out the words "set aside" and insert the word "disapprove" and strike out the words "finding and". Page 2, line 17, strike out the words "of his own".

Page 2, line 18, strike out the word "three" and insert the word "five".

Page 2, line 22, after the word "may" insert a comma and strike out the word "three" and insert the word "eight".

Page 2, line 23, insert a comma after the word "thereof”.

Page 2, line 25, strike out the words "sets aside" and insert in lieu thereof the word "disapprove".

Page 3, line 1, strike out the words "finding and".

Page 3, line 2, strike out the word "three" and insert the word "five"

Page 3, line 10, strike out the word "finding" and after the word "and" insert the words "making a".

★6-2-30

Page 3, at the end of the bill, add a new section as follows:
SEC. 6. This act shall not apply to the Territory of Alaska.

Amend the title so as to read:

A bill to provide for summary prosecution of petty offenses.

This bill is one of a series of bills recommended by the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement appointed by the President, and also by the Attorney General. The communication from the Attorney General inclosing the recommendations of the law enforcement commission, is printed herewith and made a part of this report.

Hon. GEORGE S. GRAHAM,

Chairman Committee on the Judiciary,

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D. C., May 24, 1930.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Having received requests from members of your committee for further expressions of opinion upon several bills pending before your committee intended to relieve congestion in the courts, particularly H. R. 10341, H. R. 9985, and H. R. 9937, I asked the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement to consider the subject. I am just in receipt of a letter from the chairman of the commission presenting the commission's suggestions on these measures, copies of which are inclosed for the information of your committee.

The commission has given very careful consideration to these measures, and speaking for this department, I accept their conclusions on the various points that have been under consideration, and hope that they will receive favorable consideration from your committee.

Respectfully,

WILLIAM D. MITCHELL,

Attorney General.

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LAW OBSERVANCE AND ENFORCEMENT, Washington, D. C., May 23, 1930. Hon. WILLIAM D. MITCHELL,

Attorney General, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The commission to-day considered in extenso the various bills pending before the committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives growing out of the recommendations contained in its report to the President, dated November 21, 1929, and the supplemental report, and additional bills growing out of the subject matter dealt with in these reports. As a result of the discussion, I was directed to advise you that the commission feels that among the bills so far suggested, its recommendations would be most effectively carried out by the passage of the following bills, modified as suggested in the attached memorandum: H. R. 10341, H. R. 9985, and H. R. 9937.

I am, very truly yours,

GEO. W. WICKERSHAM, Chairman.

Memorandum of bills pending in House of Representatives approved as appropriate to carry out recommendations of National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement

H. R. 10341 changed as follows:

I

Page 1, line 10, leave out the words "not" to "turpitude", inclusive.

Page 2, line 5, leave out the whole line.

Page 2, line 6, leave out the words from the beginning of the line to "law", inclusive.

The substantive part of the bill would then read as follows:

"All offenses which may be punished by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year shall be deemed felonies. All other offenses shall be deemed misdemeanors: Provided, That all offenses the penalty for which does not exceed confinement in a common jail without hard labor for a period of six months, or a fine of not more than $500, or both, shall be deemed to be petty offenses; and all such petty offenses may be prosecuted upon information or complaint.'

H. R. 9985, changed as follows:

II

Page 2, line 5, strike out the word "single".

Page 2, line 7, after "of" insert "not more than one gallon of".

Page 2, line 8, omit after the word "of”—that is, omit the words "small quantities of".

Page 2, line 9, after "section" insert "in an amount not exceeding one gallon". Page 2, line 13, omit the words "small quantities of" and insert, after the word "of", "not exceeding one gallon of".

Strike out lines 14 and 15 and insert instead: "not habitually engaged or employed in violation of the law".

The proviso in the Jones law would then read as follows:

Provided, That any person who violates the provisions of the national prohibition act, as amended and supplemented, in any of the following ways: (1) By a sale, by a person not engaged in habitual violation of the law, of not more than one gallon of liquor as that word is defined by section 1 of title 2 of said act; (2) by unlawful making of liquor, as that word is defined by said section, in any amount not exceeding one gallon, where no other person is employed; (3) by assisting in unlawfully making or unlawfully transporting of liquor, as above defined as a casual employee only; (4) by unlawful transporting of not exceeding one gallon of liquor, as above defined, by a person not habitually engaged or employed in violation of the law, shall for each offense be subject to a fine of not to exceed $500 or to be confined in jail without hard labor not to exceed six months, or both."

III

H. R. 9937, changed as follows:

Title: Strike out after the word "of" and insert "petty offenses".

Page 1, line 3, strike out the word "casual".

Also strike out all of line 4 and the word "act" in line 5, and substitute the words "petty offenses".

Page 2, line 22, change "3" to "5".

Page 3, line 2, change "3" to "5".

Page 3, add: "SEC. 6. This act shall not apply to the Territory of Alaska." It will be noted that the amendments have the approval of both the Attorney General and the law enforcement commission.

This bill is what is known as the "commissioner" bill and as originally recommended by the Law Enforcement Commission it provided for trials before a United States commissioner, but the provisions of the bill were found impracticable because they left a discretion in the district attorney to either proceed against an accused on information or to indict him and proceed against him for the commission of a felony on the same state of facts. This matter was fully considered by the subcommittee and by the full committee, and as a result, after consultation with the Law Enforcement Commission and the Attorney General, this bill as amended removing the objectionable features of the original bill is recommended as a necessary part of the program by which they hope to effect a removal of the congestion in the courts and at least relieve the congestion in part.

In accordance with the rule there is printed herewith in brackets the matter which is stricken from the law and the new language is printed in italics:

[H. R. 9937, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL To provide for summary prosecution of [slight or casual violations of the national prohibition act] petty offenses

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in prosecutions by complaint or information for [casual or slight violations of Title II of the national prohibition act] petty offenses, the accused shall plead to the complaint or information before the United States commissioner before whom he may be taken pursuant to section 595, title 18, United States Code. If he pleads guilty, the commissioner shall transmit the complaint and warrant to the clerk of the district court, with a report of the plea, and thereupon judgment of conviction shall be rendered and sentence imposed by a judge of the court.

SEC. 2. If the accused so prosecuted pleads not guilty, there shall be a hearing before the United States commissioner, who shall have the same powers with respect to summoning witnesses for prosecution and defense as those of a magistrate in a prosecution before him under the usual mode of process in the State, and the commissioner shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, transmit the complaint and warrant to the clerk of the district court, with a report of the plea and hearing and his [finding and] recommendations, and a judge of the court, on examination of the report and finding, may [confirm] approve them and render judgment of conviction or acquittal as the case may be, and in case of conviction impose sentence, or may [set aside] disapprove the [finding and] recommendations of the commissioner and by a written decision make a finding [of his own], and in case such finding is not excepted to, as provided in section 3, may, after [three] five days from the filing of such decision and written notice thereof to the accused, proceed to impose sentence.

SEC. 3. In case conviction is recommended by the commissioner, the accused [may within three] may, within eight days after filing of the commissioner's report and written notice [thereof] thereof, except in writing to the report, and may also demand trial by jury. In case the court [sets aside] disapproves the commis sioner's [finding and recommendation of acquittal and finds the accused guilty, the accused may within [three] five days after written notice of filing of the court's decision except thereto in writing and demand trial by jury. If in any case within this section trial by jury is not demanded as hereinbefore provided, it shall operate as a waiver of any right thereto.

SEC. 4. In addition to the fees provided for in section 597, title 28, United States Code, the United States commissioner shall be entitled to the following fees: For reporting a plea of guilty, $1; for hearing[, finding,] and making a report in case of plea of not guilty, $5.

SEC. 5. The circuit judges in each circuit shall have power to make rules for the details of practice suitable to carry out the several provisions of this act. SEC. 6. This act shall not apply to the Territory of Alaska.

O

2d Session

Part 2

TO PROVIDE FOR SUMMARY PROSECUTION OF PETTY

OFFENSES

JUNE 2, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. LAGUARDIA, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

MINORITY VIEWS

[To accompany H. R. 9937]

[H. R. 9937, Seventy-first Congress, Second Session]

A BILL To provide for summary prosecution of [slight or casual violations of the National Prohibition Act. petty offienses.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in prosecutions by complaint or information for [casual or slight violations of Title II of the National Prohibition act] petty offenses, the accused shall plead to the complaint or information before the United States commissioner before whom he may be taken pursuant to section 595, title 18, United States Code. If he pleads guilty, the commissioner shall transmit the complaint and warrant to the clerk of the district court, with a report of the plea, and thereupon judgment of conviction shall be rendered and sentence imposed by a judge of the court.

SEC. 2. If the accused so prosecuted pleads not guilty, there shall be a hearing before the United States commissioner, who shall have the same powers with respect to summoning witnesses for prosecution and defense as those of a magistrate in a prosecution before him under the usual mode of process in the State, and the commissioner shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, transmit the complaint and warrant to the clerk of the district court, with a report of the plea and hearing and his [finding and] recommendations, and a judge of the court, on examination of the report and finding, may [confirm] approve them and render judgment of conviction or acquittal as the case may be, and in case of conviction impose sentence, or may [set aside] dissapprove the [finding and] recommendations of the commissioner and by a written decision make a finding [of his own,] and in case such finding is not excepted to, as provided in section 3, may, after [three] five days from the filing of such decision and written notice thereof to the accused, proceed to impose sentence.

SEC. 3. In case conviction is recommended by the commissioner, the accused [may within three] may, within eight days after filing of the commissioner's report and written notice [thereof] thereof, except in writing to the report, and may also demand trial by jury. In case the court [sets aside] disapproves the commissioner's [finding and] recommendation of acquittal and finds the accused guilty, the accused may within [three] five days after written notice of filing of the court's decision except thereto in writing and demand trial by jury. I

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