Opinion ID: 793858
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Court's Consideration of an Allegedly Impermissible Factor

Text: 94 Williams also argues that the sentence imposed on him was unreasonable because the court considered a factor that Williams contends was impermissible: the seriousness of his offense. His argument is based on the fact that 18 U.S.C. § 3583, which governs supervised release, lists certain subsections of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) that the court is expressly required to consider in determining punishment for a violation of supervised release, but does not list subsection (a)(2)(A). As subsection (a)(2)(A) of § 3553 provides that the court is to consider the need for the sentence imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense, and is not mentioned in § 3583(e), Williams contends that the `seriousness of the offense' factor set forth in Section 3553(a)(2)(A) was specifically excluded from consideration and is inapplicable to the district court's inquiry upon a revocation of supervised release. (Williams brief on appeal at 23.) We disagree. 95 Subsection (e) of § 3583, which governs, inter alia, revocation of supervised release, provides that 96 [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), (a)(6), and (a)(7)— 97 .... 98 (3) revoke a term of supervised release, and require the defendant to serve in prison all or part of the term of supervised release authorized by statute for the offense that resulted in such term of supervised release without credit for time previously served on postrelease supervision, if the court... finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant violated a condition of supervised release .... 99 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3). Section 3583 does not state that any particular factor cannot be considered, and we interpret § 3583(e) simply as requiring consideration of the enumerated subsections of § 3553(a), without forbidding consideration of other pertinent factors. 100 Further, § 3583(e) cannot reasonably be interpreted to exclude consideration of the seriousness of the releasee's violation, given the other factors that must be considered. Sections 3553(a)(1), (a)(2)(B), and (a)(2)(C), which are among the sections the court is expressly required to consider, provide that 101 [t]he court in determining the particular sentence to be imposed, shall consider— 102 (1) the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant; [and] 103 (2) the need for the sentence imposed— 104 .... 105 (B) to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct; [and] 106 (C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant .... 107 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). It may be possible for the court, in considering these factors and the other factors adverted to in § 3583(e), to avoid considering a need to promote respect for the law and a need to provide just punishment for the offense, which, along with the seriousness of the offense, are the factors set out in § 3553(a)(2)(A). But we cannot see how, in order to impose a sentence that will provide adequate deterrence, id. § (a)(2)(B), and protection of the public from further crimes of the defendant, id. § (a)(2)(C), in light of the nature and circumstances of the offense, id. § (a)(1), the court could possibly ignore the seriousness of the offense. 108 Thus, we conclude that under the pertinent statutory provisions, the court in sentencing a defendant for violation of supervised release may properly consider the seriousness of his offense. If further confirmation of that conclusion is required, we find it in the legislative history of § 3553(a)(1), which indicates that, by the nature of the offense, Congress meant, inter alia, the amount of harm done by the offense, whether a weapon was carried or used, ... and whether there were any particular aggravating or mitigating circumstances surrounding the offense. S.Rep. No. 98-225, at 75 (1984), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3258.