The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 abolished parole in the federal system and laid the groundwork for the Sentencing Guidelines. The United States Sentencing Commission wrote the Sentencing Guidelines which is a table of sentencing ranges set out in months. The basic idea behind the table is that along the vertical axis, each offense is assigned a base offense level which can be increased or decreased depending on certain factors including the presence or absence of aggravating or mitigating factors, any “relevant conduct” attributed to the defendant, and the defendant’s “acceptance of responsibility.” Once you determine the offense level, the next step is to determine what criminal history your client has, which will determine the category along the horizontal axis. Once you have the offense level and the criminal history category, the place where the two meet will be the presumptive Guideline range.
The Guideline range is presumptive, rather than mandatory, because of the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Booker v. United States, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). After Booker, courts are still required to consider the applicable Guidelines range, but that range is only one of a number of factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) that are supposed to be taken into account by the district court. Sentencing courts must now consider all of the goals and factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2), not just the guidelines and policy statements in the Guidelines Manual. The new mandatory principle is a limiting one: The sentence must be “sufficient, but not greater than necessary,” to satisfy “the need for the sentence imposed
(A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the
law, and to provide just punishment for the offense;
(B) to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct;
(C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant;
(D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational
training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner.”
Factors the court “shall consider” in determining the “particular sentence” that is sufficient but not greater than necessary to satisfy the goals of sentencing:
(1) “the nature and circumstances of the offense” and “the history andcharacteristics of the defendant”
(2) “the kinds of sentences available”
(3) the advisory guidelines
(4) “any pertinent policy statement” in the Guidelines Manual, which includes departures
(5) “the need to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants
with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct”
(6) “the need to provide restitution to any victims of the offense.”
In addition to the Guidelines and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the minimum and maximum statutory limits specific to each statute must be considered and will be controlling.
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