What is a Criminal Sentence Supposed to Be? 6-20-2010

According to the United States v. Dorvee opinion, the sentence is to be sufficient but not greater than necessary to comply with 18 U.S.C. 3553(a)(2). Footnote 4 of the Dorvee opinion sets out the four purposes of a criminal sentence:

(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; and
(D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner;

As for mine own sentence, no one has questioned me as to what will deter me, shown that I present a danger to the public, or considered there is other correctional treatment. No, I was presented a boilerplate plea agreement. Assembly lines exist in the criminal justice system, too.

sch

[I edited this, swapping the current last paragraph for two pages of analysis that even in 2010 I was not sure if I wanted to keep. I do not change any ideas or sentiments, but I do make succinct what was meandering. The Dorvee case woke me up. It made me angry and that anger continues. I wrote about the case under  What the Government Won't Like #2. Meeting Samuel Henzel only kept my anger alive, for he proved the Second Circuit was correct in how contact offenses rate a lower sentence. He served 16 months less than I did. If deterrence is the focus, then is the federal government not promoting crimes like Henzel's? His case went up to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; see UNITED STATES v. HENZEL. Pay attention to what the trial judge had to say on his character - she was spot on. sch 12/10/22]