Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 1997
Abstract
There are two things upon which I suspect most observers will agree following the decision in Koon v. United States. First, the United States Supreme Court wants district courts to have more discretion to depart from the otherwise applicable guideline range, and wants appellate courts to have less authority to overturn those discretionary judgments. Second, in light of the conflicting signals the Court gave by, on the one hand, declaring that the standard of appellate review for departure decisions is to be abuse of discretion,” and on the other hand, finding that two of the five factors relied upon by the district court in its departure decision were improper, it is virtually impossible to predict the practical effect of Koon on the daily work of the lower federal courts.
Recommended Citation
Frank O. Bowman III, Places In The Heartland: Departure Jurisprudence After Koon, 9 Fed. Sent. R. 19 (1997)
Comments
Published as Frank O. Bowman III, Places In The Heartland: Departure Jurisprudence After Koon, 9 Fed. Sent. R. 19 (1997). © 1997 by [the Regents of the University of California/Sponsoring Society or Association]. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by [the Regents of the University of California/on behalf of the Sponsoring Society] for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on [JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal)] or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.