No. 466, Docket 93-1097.United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.Argued November 1, 1993.
Decided February 17, 1994.
Robert C.E. Laney, Westport, CT (Stanley P. Atwood, Sherwood, Garlick, Cowell, Diviney Atwood, of counsel), for defendant-appellant.
Joseph W. Martini, Asst. U.S. Atty., Bridgeport, CT (Albert S. Dabrowski, U.S. Atty., Nicholas A. D’Agosto IV, Law Student Intern, of counsel), for appellee.
Appeal from the United States Court for the District of Connecticut.
Before: OAKES, KEARSE, and ALTIMARI, Circuit Judges.
Page 279
OAKES, Senior Circuit Judge:
[1] I. BACKGROUND[4] Anderson completed her term of imprisonment and began her period of supervised release on August 28, 1991. [5] On October 20, 1992, Anderson’s probation officer filed a petition for probation revocation. On January 26, 1993, Judge Daly found that Anderson had violated the three special conditions of her supervised release. For these violations, Judge Daly determined that the relevant Sentencing Guidelines policy statements suggested a sentencing range of 6-12 months. Judge Daly noted, however, that the statutory maximum for such violations was 24 months. Judge Daly then sentenced Anderson to 17 months’ in prison, stating:1. Anderson must “not commit another federal, state, or local crime and shall not illegally possess a controlled substance;”
2. Anderson must “not possess a firearm or destructive device;” and
3. Anderson must “participate in a Substance Abuse Program, as an in/out patient, including urinalysis, at such times and under such conditions as U.S. Probation directs.”
[6] Anderson filed a timely notice of appeal on February 3, 1993. [7] II. DISCUSSIONIn my view you’ve made little or no effort to adjust to supervision. You’ve taken no responsibility regarding your obligations to the probation office of this court or to the Stamford Superior Court. You have been uncooperative with the prison officials, according to my information, as well as with the U.S. Marshal Service as recently [as] on the plane trip up here today. You need I think, in my judgment, intensive substance abuse and psychological treatment in a structured environment and, therefore, I’m going to depart upward from the policy statement recommendation to a period of incarceration of 17 months. I do it for the reasons I’ve just stated. And for you to enter the 1,000 hour intensive drug program at FCI Lexington, Kentucky where I hope you’ll be accepted.
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“Reforming the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Appellate Review of Discretionary Sentencing Decisions,” University of Puerto Rico School of Law, Oct. 25, 1993, reprinted in Conn.L.Trib. at 15 (Nov. 8, 1993); Daniel J. Freed, Federal Sentencing in the Wake of Guidelines: Unacceptable Limits on the Discretion of Sentencers, 101 Yale L.J. 1681 (1992).[2]
[11] While the Sentencing Commission has attempted to cabin judicial discretion within narrow procedural and substantive limits, it has not yet completely eradicated judicial discretion from our system. Although some appellate courts have a difficult time understanding that the exercise of judicial discretion is a necessary and important role in the administration of our criminal justice system, See Freed, supra at 1728, it is clear to others. See, e.g., United States v. Rivera, 994 F.2d 942, 950-951 (1st Cir. 1993) (Breyer, C.J.) (advocating review of departures from the guidelines under a standard that affords “full awareness of, and respect for” a district court’s “special competence” in determining whether “the given circumstances . . . are usual or unusual, ordinary or not ordinary, and to what extent”). The fact that the Sentencing Reform Act has not completely removed judicial discretion from our system, of course, is for the best; although judicial discretion undoubtedly may result in some sentencing disparities, it is also that which enables our courts to fashion individualized sentences essential to just administration of the criminal law. Cf. Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 304, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 2991, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976) (“While the prevailing practice of individualizing sentencing determinations generally reflects simply enlightened policy rather than a constitutional imperative, we believe that in capital cases the fundamental respect for humanity underlying the Eighth Amendment requires consideration of the character and record of the individual offender and the circumstances of the particular offense as a constitutionally indispensable part of the process of inflicting the penalty of death.”) (citation omitted); Freed, supra, 101 Yale L.J. at 1753-54. [12] B. Discretion over the Form and Length of SentencesPage 281
Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 367, 109 S.Ct. 647, 652, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989).
[15] A court’s authority to impose a term of imprisonment is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 3582. Subsection (a) of Section 3582 provides:[16] 18 U.S.C. § 3582(a). Thus, Section 3582(a) refers courts to the factors set forth at Section 3553(a):The court, in determining whether to impose a term of imprisonment, and, if a term of imprisonment is to be imposed, in determining the length of the term, shall consider the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, recognizing that imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation.
The court shall impose a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection. The court, in determining the particular sentence to be imposed, shall consider —
. . . . .
(2) the need for the sentence imposed —
. . . . .
[17] 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (1988). Thus, although these factors permit courts to take “medical care” and “correctional treatment” into consideration in determining the particular sentence to impose, the clause in § 3582(a) explicitly provides that courts shall recognize “that imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation.” 18 U.S.C. § 3582(a) (emphasis added). This limitation is further reinforced by a statutory directive to the Sentencing Commission mandating that:(D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner.
[18] 28 U.S.C. § 994(k). As this court has previously observed, Congress enacted 28 U.S.C. § 994(k):The Commission shall insure that the guidelines reflect the inappropriateness of imposing a sentence to a term of imprisonment for the purpose of rehabilitating the defendant or providing the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment.
[19] United States v. Maier, 975 F.2d 944, 946 (2d Cir. 1992). [20] C. Discretion to Consider Medical Care and Correctional Treatment in Imposing a Sentence other than Imprisonmentto be sure that no defendant was locked up in order to put him in a place where it was hoped that rehabilitation would occur. Incarceration would have to be justified by such traditional penological purposes as incapacitation, general deterrence, specific deterrence, and retribution.
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Modification of Conditions or Revocation [of a term of supervised release after imprisonment]. — The court may, after considering the factors set forth in [Section 3553(a)(2)(D) ] —
. . . . .
[24] 18 U.S.C.A. § 3583(e) (1988 Supp. 1990). This section contains no reference to 18 U.S.C. § 3582. Accordingly, the Government argues, a court may consider the factors contained in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) including the correctional purposes and medical needs in requiring an offender to serve a period of time in prison without regard to the limitation contained in Section 3582. [25] A term of supervised release after imprisonment may be included in a sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3583. See United States v. Bermudez, 974 F.2d 12, 13 (2d Cir. 1992) (per curiam). Subsection (c) of Section 3583 provides that a court “in determining the length of the term and the conditions of supervised release, shall consider the factors set forth in section 3553(a)(1), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C), (a)(2)(D), (a)(4), (a)(5), and (a)(6).”18 U.S.C. § 3583(c). Several courts have recognized that this section authorizes district courts to consider the medical and rehabilitative needs of the offender. Subsection (e) of Section 3583 provides for the revocation of a term of supervised release and gives district courts authority to require an offender to serve time in prison following revocation of probation. See Bermudez, 974 F.2d at 14. Like subsection (c), subsection (e) expressly directs the court to consider “the factors set forth in section 3553(a)(1), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C), (a)(2)(D), (a)(4), (a)(5), and (a)(6).” 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e). Like subsection (c), subsection (e) contains no express reference to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(3) revoke a term of supervised release, and require the person to serve in prison all or part of the term of supervised release without credit for time previously served on postrelease supervision, if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the person violated a condition of supervised release, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that are applicable to probation revocation and to the provisions of applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission, except that a person whose term is revoked under this paragraph may not be required to serve more than 3 years in prison if the offense for which the person was convicted was a Class B felony, or more than 2 years in prison if the offense was a Class C or D felony. . . .
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[27] This conclusion is consistent with the canon of construction that courts will avoid statutory interpretations that render provisions superfluous. See, e.g., National R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Boston and Maine Corp., ___ U.S. ___, ___, 112 S.Ct. 1394, 1402, 118 L.Ed.2d 52 (1992); Connecticut Nat’l Bank v. Germain,Page 284
Hence, the Chapter 7 policy statements cannot be construed as “authoritative guide[s] to the meaning of an applicable guideline” — there simply is no guideline to which the statements could serve as guides. Cf. United States v. Johnson, 964 F.2d 124, 127 (2d Cir. 1992) (affirming departure for extraordinary family circumstances pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5H1.6 and its accompanying policy statement and stating that “courts must distinguish between the Sentencing Guidelines and the policy statements that accompany them, and employ policy statements as interpretive guides to, not substitutes for, the Guidelines themselves”). Furthermore, the policy statements at issue in this case are “prefaced by a special discussion making manifest their tentative nature.” United States v. O’Neil, 11 F.3d 292, 302 n. 11 (1st Cir. 1993) (citing U.S.S.G. Ch. 7, Pt. A, intro. comment).[5] Accordingly, we find the policy statement at issue in this case distinguishable from the statement at issue i Williams.[6] We hold, therefore, that Chapter 7 policy statements are advisory, rather than binding. In so doing, we affirm the position articulated by this court before Williams, see Bermudez, 974 F.2d at 14, and join several other circuits that have declined to extend Williams to Chapter 7 policy statements. See, e.g., O’Neil, 11 F.3d 292, 302 n. 11 United States v. Hooker, 993 F.2d 898 (D.C.Cir. 1993) United States v. Headrick, 963 F.2d 777, 781-82 (5th Cir. 1992).
[33] While the district court was required to consider the policy statements set forth at Chapter 7 in sentencing a defendant upon the revocation of probation, the district court was not bound by these policy statements. Accordingly, the district court need not “make the explicit, detailed findings required when it departs upward from a binding guideline.” United States v. Jones, 973 F.2d 605, 607-608 (8th Cir. 1992); see also, United States v. Blackston, 940 F.2d 877, 893-94 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 611, 116 L.Ed.2d 634 (1991). Instead, we will affirm the district court’s sentence provided (1) the district court considered the applicable policy statements; (2) the sentence is within the statutory maximum; and (3) the sentence is reasonable. See United States v. Lee, 957 F.2d 770, 774-75 (10th Cir. 1992); Headrick, 963 F.2d at 782. In this case it is clear from the record that the district court considered the applicable policy statements. It is also clear that the seventeen-month sentence was within the statutory maximum.[7]Page 285
[37] The Sentencing Reform Act, Tit. II, Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq. (1988), provides that “in determining whether to impose a term of imprisonment” and in determining the length of imprisonment to be imposed, a court “shall consider the factors set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, recognizing that imprisonment is not an appropriate means of promoting correction and rehabilitation.” 18 U.S.C. § 3582(a) (emphasis added). The proposition that the court is not to order imprisonment for purposes of rehabilitation is reinforced by one of the statutory provisions governing the United States Sentencing Commission’s creation of federal sentencing guidelines, in which Congress provided that[38] 28 U.S.C. § 994(k) (1988) (emphasis added). See also United States v. Maier, 975 F.2d 944, 946 (2d Cir. 1992) (” § 994(k)[t]he Commission shall insure that the guidelines reflect the inappropriateness of imposing a sentence to a term of imprisonment for the purpose of rehabilitating the defendant or providing the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment.
[t]he court may, after considering the factors set forth in section 3553(a)(1), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C), (a)(2)(D), (a)(4), (a)(5), and (a)(6) —
(1) terminate a term of supervised release . . .;
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[42] 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e). Thus, § 3553(a)(2)(D) plainly remains relevant to subsection (2) of § 3583(e), and perhaps to subsections (1) and (4), as well, i.e., to the provisions that do not provide for imprisonment. We do not render it superfluous by recognizing its inapplicability to subsection (3). [43] In sum, I conclude that the district court’s sentencing of the defendant in the present case to imprisonment for the stated reason that “You need I think, in my judgment, intensive substance abuse and psychological treatment in a structured environment,” violated the express statutory provision of § 3582(a). Accordingly, I would vacate the sentence and remand for the imposition of a sentence that is based on consideration of only permissible factors.(2) extend a term of supervised release if less than the maximum authorized term was previously imposed, and may modify. . . . the conditions of supervised release at any time prior to the expiration or termination of the period of supervised release . . .;
(3) revoke a term of supervised release, and require the person to serve in prison all or part of the term of supervised release . . .; or
(4) order the person to remain at his place of residence during nonworking hours . . . as an alternative to incarceration.
Page 114
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