Opinion ID: 758727
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The First and Second Factors

Text: 54 The Guidelines expressly prohibit a sentencing judge from considering a defendant's lack of guidance as a youth and similar circumstances, which would include lack of a male role model, see U.S.S.G. § 5H1.12, and a defendant's history of drug abuse, see id. § 5H1.4. Because a prohibited factor may never serve as a basis for departure, see Koon, 518 U.S. at 95-96, 116 S.Ct. 2035, defendant concedes the district court's error. 55 The downward departure nonetheless may be upheld on the basis of the other factors cited. When a sentencing court relies on a combination of permissible and impermissible factors to justify a departure, the sentence will be affirmed if an appellate court determines the district court would have imposed the same sentence absent reliance on the impermissible factors. See Williams v. United States, 503 U.S. 193, 202-03, 112 S.Ct. 1112, 117 L.Ed.2d 341 (1992). We therefore must review the remaining factors to determine whether they alone support the departure.