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Sara’s Law and the Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act of 2026
To authorize the court to depart from a statutory minimum in the case of a juvenile offender, youthful victim offender, and certain other minors, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill allows federal courts to impose sentences below statutory minimums for offenders under age 18 who are convicted of violent crimes but were themselves victims of trafficking, abuse, or assault by the victim within the year before the crime. Courts would also have authority to suspend any portion of the sentence imposed on such young offenders. The legislation applies only to convictions entered after the bill becomes law. The Sentencing Commission is directed to review and update its sentencing guidelines to be consistent with these new provisions.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
9 cosponsors
- Del. Moylan, James C. [R-GU-At Large] (R-GU)
- Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA)
- Rep. Carter, John R. [R-TX-31] (R-TX)
- Rep. Dean, Madeleine [D-PA-4] (D-PA)
- Rep. Dingell, Debbie [D-MI-6] (D-MI)
- Rep. Kamlager-Dove, Sydney [D-CA-37] (D-CA)
- Rep. Ross, Deborah K. [D-NC-2] (D-NC)
- Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22] (R-CA)
- Rep. Wagner, Ann [R-MO-2] (R-MO)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Bruce Westerman’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $206,450
- MEWBOURNE OIL COMPANY $30,061
- FLYWHEEL ENERGY $19,100
- PAFFORD MEDICAL SERVICES $12,850
- PAFFORD EMS $12,800
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Bruce Westerman → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jan 14, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jan 14, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 14, 2026
Mr. Westerman (for himself, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Valadao, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. Ross, and Mrs. Dingell) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To authorize the court to depart from a statutory minimum in the case of a juvenile offender, youthful victim offender, and certain other minors, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Sara’s Law and the Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. SENTENCING YOUTHFUL VICTIM OFFENDERS WHO HAVE BEEN TRAFFICKED, ABUSED, OR ASSAULTED.
(a) Sentencing Youthful Victim Offenders.—
(1) In general.—Section 3553 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(h) Sentencing Youthful Victim Offenders.—
“(1) Statutory minimums.—In the case of a youthful victim offender, the court shall have the authority to impose a sentence that is below a level established by statute as a minimum sentence so as to consider the effect of trauma on the offender’s conduct.
“(2) Suspension of sentence.—In the case of a youthful victim offender, the court shall have the authority to suspend any portion of an imposed sentence.
“(3) Youthful victim offender defined.—In this subsection, the term ‘youthful victim offender’ means an individual who—
“(A) has not attained the age of 18; and
“(B) has been convicted of a violent offense against a person who the court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, engaged in conduct against such individual, not earlier than 1 year before such violent offense, that is an offense under section 1591 or an offense under chapter 71, 109A, 110, or 117.”.
(2) Application.—The amendments made by this section shall apply only to a conviction entered on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Directive to Sentencing Commission.—Pursuant to its authority under section 994(p) of title 28, United States Code, and in accordance with this section, the United States Sentencing Commission shall review and amend, if appropriate, its guidelines and its policy statements with respect to youthful victim offenders (as such term is defined in section 3553 of title 18, United States Code) to ensure that the guidelines and policy statements are consistent with the amendments made by subsection (a). <all>
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