Today, Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR-04) and Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) introduced the Sara's Law and the Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act of 2026. This bill gives federal judges more discretion when sentencing juveniles and will allow for children, who have been the victims of abuse, to have a second chance to succeed.
Support juvenile sentencing reform that gives federal judges more discretion and provides abused children a second chance to succeed.
Occurrences
I am proud to introduce the Sara's Law and Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act of 2026, which ensures that our justice system does not mandate minimum sentencing for youthful offenders who have committed violent crimes against their abusers after being trafficked, abused, or sexually assaulted.
Evidence
The official Westerman press-releases page shows a Jan. 14, 2026 item titled "WESTERMAN, COLLEAGUES INTRODUCE JUVENILE SENTENCING REFORM LEGISLATION," saying Westerman and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove introduced the Sara's Law and the Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act of 2026 to give federal judges more discretion in juvenile sentencing and provide abused children a second chance.
The same official press-releases index was current through June 12, 2026 and still surfaces the Jan. 14 juvenile-sentencing reform release among the recent items, with no later visible juvenile-sentencing update in the dated releases shown on the page.
Assessments
The promise was to support juvenile sentencing reform, not necessarily to enact it. The evidence shows Bruce Westerman directly did that in office by co-introducing juvenile sentencing reform legislation on January 14, 2026 that matched the stated goals of giving federal judges more discretion and offering abused children a second chance. Because his own legislative action aligned with the commitment, this counts as delivered in the same term even though there is no evidence the bills became law.