71ST CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session DEFINING PETTY OFFENSES AND PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR MAY 28, 1930.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed Mr. GRAHAM, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 10341) The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill H. R. 10341, 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, line 3, strike out the words and figures "541 of the United States Code, being section". Page 1, line 4, strike out the parenthesis and the figures "March 4, 1909". Page 1, line 5, after the figures "1152" strike out the parenthesis and before the word "be" insert the following in parenthesis: "Sec. 541, title 18, U. S. C." Page 1, line 10, strike out the words "not involving moral turpitude". Page 2, lines 5 and 6, strike out the words "before the United States commissioner, as may now or hereafter be provided by law.". Amend the title so as to read: A bill to amend section 335 of the Criminal Code. This bill is one of a series of bills recommended by the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement appointed by the President and the bill as amended has the approval of that commission as well as of the Attorney General. The communication from the Attorney General inclosing the recommendation of the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement is printed herewith and made a part of this report, as follows: Hon. GEORGE S. GRAHAM, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Chairman Committee on the Judiciary, 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 ★6-2-30 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 pointe that have been under consideration, and hope that they will receive favorable consideration from your committee. Respectfully, 1 WILLIAM D. MITCHELL, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LAW OBSERVANCE AND ENFORCEMENT, 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: Page 1, line 10, leave out the words "not" to "turpitude," inclusive. 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 quanties 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." H. R. 9937, changed as follows: III 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." "SEC. 6. This act shall not apply to the Territory of Alaska." This bill merely defines petty offenses to include those 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. Such petty offenses may be prosecuted upon information or complaint and thus the cumbersome machinery of indictment by a grand jury is rendered unnecessary. There is printed herewith under the rule copy of the law showing the new language proposed by the bill in italics: 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. O TO AMEND SECTION 541 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE JUNE 2, 1930.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed Mr. TUCKER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following MINORITY VIEWS [To accompany H. R. 10341| [Omit matter within brackets and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To amend section 541 of the United States Code, being section 335 of the Criminal Code Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section [541 of the United States Code, being section] 335 of the Criminal Code [(March 4, 1909], chapter 321, paragraph 335; Thirty-fifth Statutes, page 1152[], (sec. 541, title 18, U. S. C.) be amended to 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 [not involving moral turpitude,] 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 [before the United States commissioner, as may now or hereafter be provided by law,] upon information or complaint." Amend the title so as to read: "A bill to amend section 355 of the Criminal Code." The object of this bill is most commendable, to relieve the burden upon the district courts of the United States in the trial of petty offenses under the prohibition law upon information or complaint. To relieve the court of these burdens and the intricacies involved, of indictments, grand juries, etc., is much to be desired, and I heartily agree with the object of the bill. The defect in the bill, to my mind, is its definition of a petty offense. Surely to the ordinary man or woman in the country a fine of $500 and imprisonment in jail for 6 months can not be regarded as "petty" and this may be the punishment under this bill for one who sells a drink or transports it to a friend. What constitutes a petty offense? Is it determined entirely by the nature of the offense? Is it dependent alone upon the act of Congress in declaring that such and such a thing is a petty offense? How is its pettiness determined? How ought it be determined? We think the |