Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1650_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 20–1650 
_________________ 

CARLOS CONCEPCION, PETITIONER v. 
UNITED STATES 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT 

[June 27, 2022] 

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. 
There is a longstanding tradition in American law, dating 
back to the dawn of the Republic, that a judge at sentencing 
considers the whole person before him or her “as an individ-
ual.”  Koon v. United States, 518 U. S. 81, 113 (1996).  In 
line with this history, federal courts today generally “exer-
cise a wide discretion in the sources and types of evidence 
used” to craft appropriate sentences.  Williams v. New York, 
337 U. S. 241, 246 (1949).  When a defendant appears for 
sentencing, the sentencing court considers the defendant on 
that  day,  not  on  the  date  of  his  offense  or  the  date  of  his
conviction.  Pepper  v.  United  States,  562  U. S.  476,  492 
(2011).  Similarly, when a defendant’s sentence is set aside 
on  appeal,  the  district  court  at  resentencing  can  (and  in
many  cases,  must)  consider  the  defendant’s  conduct  and 
changes  in  the  Federal  Sentencing  Guidelines  since  the
original sentencing.  Ibid. 

Congress enacted the First Step Act of 2018 against that
backdrop.  The First Step Act authorizes district courts to
reduce the prison sentences of defendants convicted of cer-