Source: https://casetext.com/case/bifulco-v-united-states-2
Timestamp: 2019-08-18 23:49:57
Document Index: 106316621

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 846', '§ 401', '§ 841', '§ 401', '§ 401', '§ 401', '§ 201', '§ 841', '§ 401', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 3', '§ 401', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 845', '§ 174', '§ 7237', '§ 701', '§ 501', '§ 501', 'art 1', '§ 501', '§ 401', '§ 504', '§ 406', '§ 401', '§ 501', '§ 504', '§ 401', '§ 508', '§ 401', '§ 508', '§ 501', '§ 508', '§ 405', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 408', '§ 848', '§ 403', '§ 841', '§ 401', '§ 841', '§ 401', '§ 401', '§ 841', '§ 408', '§ 848', '§ 409', '§ 849', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406']

Bifulco v. United States, 447 U.S. 381 | Casetext
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Bifulcov.United States
U.S.Jun 16, 1980
447 U.S. 381•100 S. Ct. 2247•
Argued February 27, 1980. Decided June 16, 1980.
(a) A "plain meaning" interpretation of the term "imprisonment" in § 406 does not support the position that the term means a term of incarceration plus special parole made applicable by the target offense's penalty provisions. Moreover, the structure of the Act read as a whole supports the conclusion that § 406 defines the types of punishment authorized for conspirators — imprisonment, fine, or both — and sets maximum limits on those sanctions through reference to the penalty provisions of the target offense, but does not incorporate by reference any provisions for special parole. Pp. 388-390.
(b) Nor does the Act's legislative history demonstrate that Congress intended that the penalties authorized for substantive offenses, and those for conspiracies to commit them, were to be identical, thus authorizing special parole terms for conspiracy convictions. Instead, the history supports the view that § 406 authorizes two types of sanctions — fines and imprisonment — and fixes the maximum amount of each that may be imposed by reference to the target offense's penalty provisions. Pp. 391-398.
(c) A reading of § 406 to include the special parole provisions of target offenses cannot be supported on the ground that Congress' principal objective in enacting the Act's penalty provisions — to deter professional criminals from engaging in drug trafficking for profit — renders it unreasonable to ascribe to Congress the intent to authorize special parole for isolated substantive offenses while withholding this sentencing tool for conspiracies. A comparison of those drug offenses for which Congress clearly authorized special parole terms with those for which it clearly did not, does not reveal a coherent pattern based on the asserted justification for escalated sanctions. Moreover, since § 406 deals with both conspiracies and attempts, and prescribes an identical range of punishment for both, it is not surprising that Congress would provide for less stringent sanctions to be imposed for violations of § 406 than for a completed substantive offense. Pp. 398-399.
The issue presented in this case is whether § 406 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (Act), 84 Stat. 1265, 21 U.S.C. § 846, authorizes a sentencing court to impose a term of special parole upon a defendant who is convicted of conspiracy to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance.
The object of the conspiracy at issue in this case was the commission of the substantive offense defined in § 401(a) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a). That subsection reads:
"Except as authorized by this title, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally —
The penalties for violations of § 401(a) are set forth in § 401(b). That subsection authorizes the imposition of terms of imprisonment, fines, and, in some instances, mandatory minimum terms of special parole. The range of permissible punishments varies depending on the nature of the controlled substance involved, and on whether the defendant has been convicted previously of a drug offense. The penalty provision at issue is § 401(b)(1)(B). It states:
This provision was amended in 1978, but the amendment is not pertinent Page 384 to the issue presented here. See Pub.L. 95-633, § 201, 92 Stat. 3774, 21 U.S.C. § 841 (b)(1)(B) (1976 ed., Supp. II).
In an indictment filed in December 1976 with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, petitioner Alphonse Bifulco and others were charged with a single count of conspiring to violate § 401(a)(1) by knowingly and intentionally manufacturing, distributing, and possessing substantial quantities of phencyclidine, a schedule III controlled substance. This conspiracy was charged as a violation of § 406. A jury found petitioner and several codefendants guilty of the offense charged, and petitioner was sentenced to a 4-year term of imprisonment, a fine of $1,000, and a 5-year special parole term. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit subsequently affirmed petitioner's conviction in an unpublished order.
Shortly after the Second Circuit's decision in this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reached the opposite conclusion on the issue and held that a special parole term may not be imposed under § 406. United States v. Mearns, 599 F.2d 1296 (1979), aff'g 461 F. Supp. 641 (Del. 1978), cert. pending, No. 79-415. We granted certiorari, 444 U.S. 897 (1979), to resolve this conflict among the Courts of Appeals.
Two Courts of Appeals, in addition to those followed by the Second Circuit in this case, have joined in the conclusion that § 406 authorizes the imposition of a special parole term where such a term is included in the penalty provisions of the target offense. See United States v. Sellers, 603 F.2d 53, 58 (CA8 1979), and Cantu v. United States, 598 F.2d 471, 472 (CA5 1979). In addition, in a number of cases appellate courts have affirmed the convictions of defendants sentenced to special parole terms under § 406 without considering the question whether special parole was authorized. For example, the question presented here may have lingered beneath the surface in United States v. Timmreck, 441 U.S. 780 (1979).
In Mearns, the Third Circuit followed the lead of two District Court opinions (in addition to the opinion there under review) holding that Page 387 special parole is not a penalty authorized by § 406. See United States v. Jacquinto, 464 F. Supp. 728 (ED Pa. 1979), and Fassette v. United States, 444 F. Supp. 1245 (CD Cal. 1978). Cf. United States v. Wells, 470 F. Supp. 216 (SD Iowa 1979) (adopting the Mearns rationale in sentencing, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3, accessories after the fact to a drug conspiracy).
Language and structure of the Act. Several reviewing courts have adopted the view that the special parole term specified in § 401(b)(1)(B) is necessarily included within the "term of imprisonment" to which it is appended. See, e. g., United States v. Jacobson, 578 F.2d, at 868. Thus, when Congress stated in § 406 that a person guilty of attempt or conspiracy "is punishable by imprisonment," it meant to include within the term "imprisonment" any special parole term made applicable by the penalty provisions of the substantive offense. This argument is not too persuasive, however, because special parole is not authorized for all substantive offenses to which § 406 refers. Therefore, "imprisonment" within the meaning of § 406 does not always include special parole. As a period of supervision served upon completion of a prison term, special parole is also functionally distinct from incarceration. Finally, the penalty provisions of those substantive offenses that authorize special parole terms reflect this functional dichotomy. Section 401(b)(1)(B), for example, twice provides that a special parole term of years is to be imposed " in addition to such term of imprisonment." (Emphasis added.) We agree, therefore, with the conclusion of those courts that have rejected the argument that "imprisonment" in § 406 plainly means a term of incarceration plus special parole. See, e. g., United States v. Jacquinto, 464 F. Supp. 728, 729-730 (ED Pa. 1979).
Faced with these obstacles, the Government cannot rely solely on a "plain meaning" interpretation of the term "imprisonment." Thus, in its principal argument, the Government asks this Court to take a broader view of the relationship between § 406 and the penalty provisions for substantive offenses and to conclude that the structure of the Act, viewed as a whole, creates an inference that § 406 incorporates by reference those substantive penalty provisions. The Government contends that the language of the statute supports this reading because § 406 authorizes penalties "which may not exceed the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy." While this argument is not wholly without force, it ignores the immediately preceding words of § 406, which state that "[a]ny person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this title is punishable by imprisonment or fine or both." (Emphasis added.) Petitioner argues that § 406 defines the types of punishment authorized for conspirators — imprisonment, fine, or both — and sets maximum limits on those sanctions through reference to the penalty provisions of the target offense. Petitioner's reading of the language of § 406, and the sentencing scheme that it proposes, is no less plausible than the Government's. Moreover, it is petitioner's reading that finds further support in the structure of the Act read as a whole.
Section 406 is not the only provision of the Act that defines sentences by reference to the penalty provisions of other offenses. Section 405(a) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 845 (a), which enhances punishment for one convicted of distributing a controlled substance to a minor, provides:
"Any person at least eighteen years of age who violates section 401(a)(1) by distributing a controlled substance to a person under twenty-one years of age is . . . punishable by (1) a term of imprisonment, or a fine, or both, up to twice that authorized by section 401(b), and ( 2) at least twice any special parole term authorized by section 401 ( b), for a first offense involving the same controlled substance and schedule." (Emphasis supplied.)
It is true that prior to the Act federal narcotics legislation provided for a congruence between sentences authorized for substantive violations and sentences authorized for conspiracies. A similar congruence was a feature of the several bills introduced in Congress in 1969 that were the forerunners of the Act. But a special parole term, a sanction previously unknown in the administration of our system of criminal justice, was not authorized as a penalty for any offense in those initial proposals.
See 21 U.S.C. § 174, 176a, 176b (1964 ed.); and 26 U.S.C. § 7237 (a) and (b) (1964 ed.).
See S. 1895, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., §§ 701-708 (1969), and S. 2637, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., §§ 501-508 (1969), reprinted in Narcotics Legislation: Hearings on S. 1895 et al. before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., 69-77, 160-170 (1969). See also H.R. 13743 and H.R. 14774, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., §§ 501-508 (1969), reprinted in Part 1, Drug Abuse Control Amendments — 1970: Hearings on H.R. 11701 and H.R. 13743 before the Subcommittee on Public Health and Welfare of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., 17-20 (1970).
The special parole concept first was presented to Congress by John Ingersoll, Director of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, in testimony before a Senate Subcommittee on October 20, 1969. See Narcotics Legislation: Hearings on S. 1895 et al. before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., 663, 676 (1969). The Attorney General earlier had sought Subcommittee approval for further input from the Justice Department on the penalty structures in the pending legislation, id., at 255, and Mr. Ingersoll presented several alternative penalty schemes for the Subcommittee's consideration. His comments to the Subcommittee concerning the special parole provisions were, in their entirety, as follows:
Mr. Ingersoll did not specify whether special parole terms were to be authorized for conspiracies to commit trafficking offenses, see n. 11, supra, and the bill that eventually was approved by the full Senate Committee on the Judiciary was no less ambiguous. See S. Rep. No. 91-613, pp. 116-118 (1969). That bill, S. 3246, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. (1970), in its §§ 501(c)(1) and (2), mandated the imposition of a special parole term whenever a prison sentence was imposed under the forerunners to §§ 401(b)(1)(A) and (B). But § 504 of the bill, the forerunner to § 406, included no reference to special parole.
The forerunner to § 401(b)(1)(B) was § 501(c)(2) of S. 3246. It provided an identical penalty scheme for first offenders as does the current substantive offense — a term of imprisonment of not more than five years, a fine of not more than $15,000, or both, and a 2-year minimum special parole term in addition to any term of imprisonment. See S. Rep. No. 91-613, at 116.
Further support for the view that the Judiciary Committee knew what it was doing when it approved § 504 of S. 3246 may be found in those provisions of the bill that dealt with a second or subsequent offense. Under the Act, doubly enhanced penalties for second offenders are included within the provisions defining the sentences for individual substantive offenses. See, e. g., § 401(b)(1)(B), quoted supra, at 383-384. S. 3246, however, contained a separate provision, § 508(a), that set out the penalties for repeat offenders. It stated:
"Any person convicted of any offense under this Act is, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense, punishable by a term of imprisonment twice that authorized, by twice the fine otherwise authorized, or by both. If the conviction is for an offense punishable under subsection 501(c)(1) or subsection 501(c)(2) of this Act [the fore-runners to §§ 401(b)(1)(A) and (B)], and if it is the offender's second or subsequent offense, the court shall impose, in addition to any terms of imprisonment and fine, twice the special parole term otherwise authorized." S. Rep. No. 91-613, at 119-120.
An identical provision was contained in H.R. 17463, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., § 508(a) (1970), a forerunner of the Act approved by one of the two House Committees to conduct hearings on the proposed narcotics legislation. See Controlled Dangerous Substances, Narcotics and Drug Control Laws: Hearings on H.R. 17463 before the House Committee on Ways and Means, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., 69 (1970) (hereinafter Ways and Means Hearings). The bill eventually passed by the House, H.R. 18583, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. (1970), incorporated enhanced penalties for repeat offenders within the individual substantive offenses. See 116 Cong. Rec. 33625 (1970). The House bills are discussed further below.
We think this section of the Senate bill makes it fairly evident that the Committee recognized that it had provided for the imposition of special parole terms under various subsections of § 501, but that it had not done so generally. Thus, § 508(a) of S. 3246, like § 405 of the Act, reveals that Congress' failure explicitly to incorporate the concept of special parole into the Act's conspiracy provision, alleged by the Government to have been inadvertent, in fact may have been intentional.
The Government would read the second sentence of this passage as explaining "that the sentencing scheme contemplated that conspiracy was to be punished to the same extent as object offenses, without exception." Brief for United States 24. But the Ingersoll statement, like the language enacted in § 406, explains merely that the punishment imposed for conspiracy may not exceed the punishment authorized for the pertinent target offense. It does not define the punishment authorized under the conspiracy provision to include special parole, and it does not disavow petitioner's theory that § 406 defines the types of punishment authorized for conspiracy, while the penalty provisions of the target offense set the maximum amounts of those types of punishment that properly may be imposed. Moreover, a chart submitted to the Committee by the Justice Department, and appended to Mr. Ingersoll's section-by-section analysis, specifically noted that H.R. 17463 authorized the imposition of special parole terms for certain substantive offenses. Ways and Means Hearing 229. With respect to the conspiracy section of the bill, however, the chart contained a footnote that merely reads: "H. R. 17463 provides that any person who endeavors or conspires to commit any offense under the act may be punished by imprisonment and/or fine, which may not exceed the maximum punishment proscribed [ sic] for committing the offense." Id., at 230, n. 6. (Emphasis supplied.) In sum, we find no persuasive support for the Government's argument in the report of the hearings before the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means followed earlier hearings conducted by the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. The latter Committee issued the House Report on H.R. 18583, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. (1970), which contained additions and revisions to H.R. 17463 not pertinent to the sentencing provisions at issue here. H.R. Rep. No. 91-1444, pt. 1 (1970). Like the Senate Report, the House Report appears plainly to recognize the distinction between the penalties for specific substantive offenses, authorizing special parole terms, and the conspiracy offense, authorizing only terms of imprisonment and fines. Thus, with respect to § 406 of H.R. 18583, the direct ancestor of the present § 406, the House Report's section-by-section analysis states:
"Section 406 provides that any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this title may be punished by imprisonment and/or fine which may not exceed the maximum amount set for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy." H.R. Rep. No. 91-1444, at 50. (Emphasis supplied.)
The grammatical structure of this sentence lends obvious support to petitioner's theory that § 406 authorizes two types of sanctions — fines and imprisonment — and fixes the maximum amount of each that may be imposed by reference to the penalty provisions of the target offense.
Motivating policy. The Government strongly argues, finally, that Congress' principal objective in enacting the penalty provisions of the Act — to deter professional criminals from engaging in drug trafficking for profit — "render[s] it unreasonable to ascribe to [Congress] the intent to authorize special parole for isolated substantive offenses while withholding this major sentencing tool for conspiracy offenses." Brief for United States 28. This contention is unpersuasive for two reasons.
First, as petitioner points out, Brief for Petitioner 14-23; Reply Brief for Petitioner 1-3, a comparison of those drug offenses for which Congress clearly authorized the imposition of special parole terms with those for which it clearly did not, does not reveal a coherent pattern based on the asserted justification for escalated sanctions. For some of the most serious offenses, as measured by the length of the term of imprisonment and severity of the fine they authorize, special parole is not included among the available sanctions. E. g., § 408 of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 848 (continuing criminal enterprise); § 403 of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 841 (registrants); and the new § 401(d) of this Act, 21 U.S.C. § 841 (d) (1976 ed., Supp. II) (piperidine offenses). Thus, the Government's argument based on Congress' sentencing objectives would prove too much.
Second, the thrust of the Government's argument is that the conspiracy to engage in drug trafficking presents at least as great a threat, if not a greater one, to the community as does an isolated act of distribution. In other contexts, we have recognized the logic of that view. See, e. g., Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 778 (1975). From this premise, the Government contends that Congress must have desired the harsh sanctions incorporated within the concept of special parole — the unlimited maximum length of its term and the grave consequences attending its revocation, see § 401(c) — to be available to the judge sentencing a drug conspirator.
The dissent takes us to task for failing to recognize that it is unlikely that Congress would intend that "the directors of a narcotics Page 400 distribution business be punished less severely than their subordinates who merely peddle the poison." Post, at 402. But even a cursory reading of the Act should make it clear that our opinion today will not result in the sentencing disparity the dissent fears. Section 406's punishment provisions are not the sole sanctions Congress enacted for apprehended directors of organized drug trafficking operations. First, nothing prevents the Government from prosecuting the operators of a distribution network, either as principals or as aiders and abettors, for substantive manufacturing, distribution, and possession offenses, pursuant to § 401 of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 841. Second, and more significantly, Congress enacted two special provisions with the directors of large trafficking operations particularly in mind. The sanctions available under those provisions are especially severe. See § 408 of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 848 (continuing criminal enterprise); §§ 409(e)(2) and (3) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 849 (e)(2) and (3) (defining a special drug offender).
This investigation into the meaning of § 406, as informed by an examination of its language and structure, its history, and relevant policy considerations, yields the likely conclusion that Congress' failure specifically to authorize the imposition of special parole terms as punishment for those convicted of conspiracy was not a slip of the legislative pen, nor the result of inartful draftsmanship, but was a conscious and not irrational legislative choice. Our analysis reveals, at the least, a complete absence of an unambiguous legislative decision to authorize special parole terms as punishment for those convicted of drug conspiracies. Of course, to the extent that doubts remain, they must be resolved in accord with the rule of lenity. If our construction of Congress' intent, as evidenced by the scant record it left behind, clashes with present legislative expectations, there is a simple remedy — the insertion of a brief appropriate phrase, by amendment, into the present language of § 406. But it is for Congress, and not this Court, to enact the words that will produce the result the Government seeks in this case.
If the question presented by this case were as simple and easy as the dissent formulates it — whether "the directors of a narcotics distribution business [should] be punished less severely than their subordinates who merely peddle the poison" — none of us would have any difficulty with the decision. But that is not really the issue. Rather, the question before the Court is substantially more limited: What do the words of the statute mean? Of course, we must try to discern the intent of Congress. But we perform that task by beginning with the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute. Our compass is not to read a statute to reach what we perceive — or even what we think a reasonable person should perceive — is a "sensible result"; Congress must be taken at its word unless we are to assume the role of statute revisers. Aaron v. SEC, 446 U.S. 680 (1980); TVA v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 173 (1978).
Since an ordinary reading of § 406 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 implies that a conspirator may be punished just as severely as a substantive offender, I would so construe the statute. This construction is fortified by the total absence of any statement by any legislator suggesting any purpose to treat conspirators in the drug trade with any greater lenity than substantive offenders. This is particularly important in view of the fact that prior to the 1970 Act, Congress had authorized identical penalties for conspiracies and completed offenses. See ante, at 391.