United States v. Wilson (Jan. 12, 2005)

“One possible reason for avoiding a Guidelines sentence might be the so-called "parsimony provision," which provides that "the court shall impose a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes [of punishment] set forth in [the Sentencing Reform Act]." n62 It is possible to argue that this provision requires the courts to impose sentences below the Guidelines range, because Guidelines sentences are not parsimonious. n63 This is an interesting argument worthy of discussion.

n62 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) (emphasis added).
n63 See http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy (Jan. 12, 2005) (The Power of Parsimony (and Justice Breyer's Notable Omission)) (Prof. Douglas Berman tentatively advancing this suggestion).”
United States v. Wilson, 350 F. Supp. 2d 910, 922 (D. Utah 2005)

   

Note: The URL for the specific post referred to in the case, "The Power of Parsimony (and Justice Breyer's Notable Omission)," is: http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2005/01/
the_power_of_pa.html 

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