Increased Penalties Act
Encyclopedia
The Increased Penalties Act was a bill that increased the penalties for violating prohibition. Enacted on March 2, 1929, it is also called the "Jones-Stalker Act" or the "Jones Act". The legislation was sponsored by two Republicans, Sen. Wesley L. Jones of Washington and Rep. Gale H. Stalker
of New York
. It stipulated that wherever any penalty was prescribed for the illegal manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, or exportation of intoxicating liquor as defined in the Volstead Act
of 1919, the penalty imposed for each such offense should be a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed five years, or both. The Act did not repeal any minimum penalties then prescribed by law. It further declared that it was the intent of Congress
that the courts in passing sentence should discriminate between "casual and slight" violations and habitual sales of intoxicating liquor or attempts to commercialize violations of the law.
The bill passed the Senate on February 19, 1929, by a vote of 65 to 18. On February 28 the House passed it by a vote of 283 to 90. President Calvin Coolidge
signed the legislation on March 2, 1929.
Gale H. Stalker
Gale Hamilton Stalker was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York....
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. It stipulated that wherever any penalty was prescribed for the illegal manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, or exportation of intoxicating liquor as defined in the Volstead Act
Volstead Act
The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was the enabling legislation for the Eighteenth Amendment which established prohibition in the United States...
of 1919, the penalty imposed for each such offense should be a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed five years, or both. The Act did not repeal any minimum penalties then prescribed by law. It further declared that it was the intent of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
that the courts in passing sentence should discriminate between "casual and slight" violations and habitual sales of intoxicating liquor or attempts to commercialize violations of the law.
The bill passed the Senate on February 19, 1929, by a vote of 65 to 18. On February 28 the House passed it by a vote of 283 to 90. President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
signed the legislation on March 2, 1929.