S. 1688, known as the Career Criminal Life Sentence Act of 1981, is designed to counter violent and major crime by establishing a Federal offense for continuing a career of robberies or burglaries while armed and providing a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. S. 1689 authorizes incarceration in Federal prison of convicts sentenced to life imprisonment under the habitual criminal statute of a State. S. 1690 would require States to ensure that inmates have a marketable job skill and basic literacy before releasing them on parole. Testimony is provided by a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice, a representative of the U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics, various county prosecutors, criminologists, and a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Justice Department's representative notes that it can make no final appraisal of the bills until it has examined their budgetary impact, but he does advise that the legislation's focus on career criminals, bail issues, and enhanced sentence structures does fit the Justice Department's positions. The representative of the American Civil Liberties Union questions the constitutionality of a statute that would punish a person for a pattern of criminality rather than for individual crimes.