YourVoice.Now Summary
Criminal Justice & Due ProcessFederal judges couldn't use charges you were acquitted of to lengthen your sentence — only to shorten it.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Today federal judges may weigh conduct behind charges that ended in acquittal when they set a sentence. The bill bars that use unless it lowers the sentence. It counts acquittals in federal, state, tribal, and juvenile courts.
More about this bill
Federal judges could no longer give someone a longer sentence for charges they were found not guilty of. Today, federal law puts no limit on what a judge may weigh when setting a sentence. That includes acts behind charges that ended in a not-guilty verdict. The bill would bar federal judges from using those acts, except to make a sentence shorter. The ban would cover charges where a person was found not guilty at trial in a federal, state, or tribal court. It would also cover youth cases where the young person was found not responsible. It would cover charges a judge threw out because the proof was too weak to convict. The rule would apply only to sentences handed down on or after the day the bill becomes law.
Congressional Summary
This bill limits the consideration of acquitted conduct (e.g., conduct underlying criminal charges for which an individual was found not guilty) by a federal court at sentencing.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-12-15
- Date Added
- 2026-10-03
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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