Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

IV

PART IX-S. 1 AND S. 1400

(General codification and provisions relating to abortion,
business law, civil rights, death penalty, elections,
Indian law, insanity defense, and sentencing)

July 25, 26 and September 27, 1973...

PART X-S. 1 AND S. 1400

(Provisions relating to attempt, complicity, conspiracy,
drugs, government operations, insanity, intoxication,
jurisdiction, national security, obscenity and offenses
against the person)

Page

6479-6803

7673

Van de Kamp, John K., Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles,
Calif..

7796

Material submitted for the record-

American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law, panel dis-
cussion on the Criminal Code..

8133

(The) Associated General Contractors of America, letter of
August 30, 1974, to Chairman McClellan.

8075

Association of the Bar of the City of New York, report by the
special committee on the proposed new Federal Criminal
Code, July 1974..

7692

Material submitted for the record-Continued

Brown Commission Report, Sections 602 and 608.
"Civil Liability of Thieves, Receivers, and Purchasers of Stolen
Property to Shippers, Carriers, and Their Insurers: Common
Law and Statutory Remedies," memorandum prepared by the
Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. _
Clark, Hon. Tom C., excerpts from Northwestern University Law
Review, volume 68, No. 5, November-December 1973..

"Criminal Code: Justice Replies," by Henry E. Petersen, the

Washington Post, March 3, 1974.

DeShelter, Kenneth E., letter of October 24, 1974, re violations
of insurance laws in the proposed code-

Ginsberg, Philip, Chief Defender, Seattle, Washington, statement_

Goldberg, Nancy, Deputy Director of Defender Services,

Page

8033

8097

7991

8094

Mattina, Joseph S., "Sentencing: A Judge's Inherent Responsi-
bility," Judicature, vol. 57, No. 3, October 1973.

8089

Model Sentencing Act, excerpts from_--

8092

Pirtle, Robert L., Attorney, Seattle, Washington, letter to Chair-
man McClellan, Feb. 22, 1974.

8075

Sentencing, the second circuit sentencing study, excerpts from
report of the judges of the second circuit..

Stanton, Nile, executive director, Indianapolis Lawyers Com-

mission, statement on proposed code revision..

Montgomery, Frank R., Statement of the National Committee on

Insurance Guaranty Funds..

"White Collar Crime," Public Citizens' staff report prepared by
R. Morgan Downey, counsel, Public Citizens, Washington,
D.C
Woosley v. United States, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit,
filed April 23, 1973 (appellate review of sentence)
Zumwalt, William James, "The Anarchy of Sentencing in the
Federal Courts," Judicature, vol. 57, No. 3, October 1973____

8101

7898

8037

8082

REFORM OF THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWS

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1974

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL LAWS AND

PROCEDURES

OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:15 a.m., in room 2228 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Roman Hruska presiding.

Present: Senator Hruska.

Also present: Paul C. Summitt, chief counsel; Douglas R. Marvin, minority counsel; Dennis C. Thelen, assistant counsel; and Mabel A. Downey, clerk.

Senator HRUSKA. The subcommittee will come to order.

The chairman is not able to be here because of other official Senate duties. He asked me to preside.

We will resume our hearings on the bills S. 1 and S. 1400 having to do in each instance with the revision of the title 18 Criminal Code of the United States. We are favored this morning by the presence from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Raymond L. Falls and Andrew M. Lawler. It is my understanding that Judge Asch had originally been assigned to this occasion and he is not able to be here.

Am I correct?

Mr. FALLS. That is correct. Judge Asch is chairman of our committee, which is a special committee of the bar to study the Criminal Code. He is unable to be here, so we are here in his stead.

Senator HRUSKA. We welcome both of you here. We have received your report.

Have you a statement on the report, Mr. Falls?

Mr. FALLS. Yes; we do have some comments, Senator. We do not have an additional written statement.

Senator HRUSKA. Go ahead.

STATEMENT OF RAYMOND L. FALLS, JR., SECRETARY OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL CODE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ACCOMPANIED BY ANDREW M. LAWLER, JR., MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL CODE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Mr. FALLS. Let me begin with a few preliminary comments. We indicated when we testified 2 years ago on the Brown Commission

(7673)

bill that we approach this problem, as I am sure the subcommittee does, with a great awareness indeed, perhaps being intimidated by the massiveness of the task, that anyone faces who attempts the task that the Brown Commission attempted and that this subcommittee is attempting, to review and codify the entire criminal law system in the United States.

Our committee of the association was especially appointed some 3 or 4 years ago, initially to study the Brown Commission proposal, and 2 years ago we submitted to the subcommittee a printed report and gave testimony at that time. Since that time, of course, we have introduced into the Senate S. 1 and S. 1400, which represent two separate attempts at codification of the criminal law, each of which differs in some particulars, in many particulars, from the Brown Commission bill.

During the period since those bills were introduced we have made. further study of S. 1 and S. 1400 in an attempt to compare them with the Brown Commission bill and to make our recommendations with respect to drafting problems in one or another of the bills, and to express our preference and recommendations as among the various provisions of the three bills. We have delivered to the clerk of the subcommittee today copies of our tentative report comparing the three bills. We hope within the next few weeks to provide the subcommittee with copies of a final printed report, which we would like to ask be made part of the record.

The tentative report that we delivered today is, however, substantially complete and final in terms of the recommendations and opinions expressed. I should point out, too, that our present report should be read together with the report that we submitted 2 years ago, because we have not attempted to recanvass all the issues that we spoke to in that original report and in our testimony 2 years ago. Senator HRUSKA. Note will be taken of that and will be regarded accordingly.

Mr. FALLS. Thank you.

Again, a few general views with respect to the whole question of codification. One cannot study a proposal of this sort without sometimes having a question or a qualm about whether the game is worth it, whether the project should be pursued at all, because there are certainly risks involved in a project of this kind. I suppose it is impossible in writing a bill so large and so comprehensive and dealing with such a variety of questions to achieve perfection or anything close to it. There is always the risk that any codification will contain in it ambiguities, unintended changes in the law, or erroneous policy judgments, either because they were consciously arrived at erroneously or because of inadvertence.

We think, however, that those risks are outweighed by the advantages of proceeding with the codification. We think that the project should go ahead. There has been an enormous amount of effort spent on it both by the Brown Commission and by this subcommittee, by various public groups, and we think that there are advantages to be achieved that outweigh the risks involved.

First of all, we think that any of the three bills that have been considered the Brown Commission bill, S. 1 or S. 1400-achieve a certain desirable objective in terms of rationalizing the law and making

« ForrigeFortsett »