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MILLER v. ALABAMA
132 S.Ct. 2455 (2012)
Supreme Court of United States.
Argued March 20, 2012.
While the tally in these early cases may be characterized as evidence of a national consensus, the evidence became weaker and weaker in later cases. In Atkins, which held that low-IQ defendants may not be sentenced to death, the Court found an anti-death-penalty consensus even though more than half of the States that allowed capital punishment permitted the practice. See 536 U.S., at 342, 122 S.Ct. 2242 (SCALIA, J., dissenting) (observing that less than half of the 38 States that permit capital punishment have enacted legislation barring execution of the mentally retarded). The Court attempted to get around this problem by noting that there was a pronounced trend against this punishment. See id., at 313-315, 122 S.Ct. 2242 (listing 18 States that had amended their laws since 1986 to prohibit the execution of mentally retarded persons). The importance of trend evidence, however, was not long lived. In Roper, which outlawed capital punishment for defendants between the ages of 16 and 18, the lineup of the States was the same as in Atkins, but the trend in favor of abolition — five States during the past 15 years — was less impressive. Roper, 543 U.S., at 564-565, 125 S.Ct. 1183. Nevertheless, the Court held that the absence of a strong trend in support of abolition did not matter. See id., at 566, 125 S.Ct. 1183 ("Any difference between this case and Atkins with respect to the pace of abolition is thus counterbalanced by the consistent direction of the change"). In Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Court went further. Holding that the Eighth Amendment prohibits capital punishment for the brutal rape of a 12-year-old girl, the Court disregarded a nascent legislative trend in favor of permitting capital punishment for this narrowly defined and heinous crime. See 554 U.S., at 433, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (explaining that, although "the total number of States to have made child rape a capital offense ... is six," "[t]his is not an indication of a trend or change in direction comparable to the one supported by data in Roper"). The Court felt no need to see whether this trend developed further — perhaps because true moral evolution can lead in only one direction. And despite the argument that the rape of a young child may involve greater depravity than some murders, the Court proclaimed that homicide is categorically different from all (or maybe almost all) other offenses. See id., at 438, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (stating that nonhomicide crimes, including child rape, "may be devastating in their harm ... but in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public, they cannot be compared to murder in their severity and irrevocability" (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). As the Court had previously put it, "death is different." Ford, supra, at 411, 106 S.Ct. 2595 (plurality opinion). Two years after Kennedy, in Graham v. Florida, any pretense of heeding a legislative consensus was discarded. In Graham, federal law and the law of 37 States and the District of Columbia permitted a minor to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for nonhomicide crimes, but despite this unmistakable evidence of a national consensus, the Court held that the practice violates the Eighth Amendment. See 560 U.S., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2043-2044
(THOMAS, J., dissenting). The Court, however, drew a distinction between minors who murder and minors who commit other heinous offenses, so at least in that sense the principle that death is different lived on. Today, that principle is entirely put to rest, for here we are concerned with the imposition of a term of imprisonment on offenders who kill. The two (carefully selected) cases before us concern very young defendants, and despite the brutality and evident depravity exhibited by at least one of the petitioners, it is hard not to feel sympathy for a 14-year-old sentenced to life without the possibility of release. But no one should be confused by the particulars of the two cases before us. The category of murderers that the Court delicately calls "children" (murderers under the age of 18) consists overwhelmingly of young men who are fast approaching the legal age of adulthood. Evan Miller and Kuntrell Jackson are anomalies; much more typical are murderers like Donald Roper, who committed a brutal thrill-killing just nine months shy of his 18th birthday. Roper, 543 U.S., at 556, 125 S.Ct. 1183. Seventeen-year-olds commit a significant number of murders every year,1 and some of these crimes are incredibly brutal. Many of these murderers are at least as mature as the average 18-year-old. See Thompson, 487 U.S., at 854, 108 S.Ct. 2687 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment) (noting that maturity may "vary widely among different individuals of the same age"). Congress and the legislatures of 43 States have concluded that at least some of these murderers should be sentenced to prison without parole, and 28 States and the Federal Government have decided that for some of these offenders life without parole should be mandatory. See Ante, at 2471-2472, and nn. 9-10. The majority of this Court now overrules these legislative judgments.2 It is true that, at least for now, the Court apparently permits a trial judge to make an individualized decision that a particular minor convicted of murder should be sentenced to life without parole, but do not expect this possibility to last very long. The majority goes out of its way to express the view that the imposition of a sentence of life without parole on a "child" (i.e., a murderer under the age of 18) should be uncommon. Having held in Graham that a trial judge with discretionary sentencing authority may not impose a sentence of life without parole on a minor
who has committed a nonhomicide offense, the Justices in the majority may soon extend that holding to minors who commit murder. We will see.
1. Jackson was ineligible for the death penalty under Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 108 S.Ct. 2687, 101 L.Ed.2d 702 (1988) (plurality opinion), which held that capital punishment of offenders under the age of 16 violates the Eighth Amendment.
2. For the first time in this Court, Arkansas contends that Jackson's sentence was not mandatory. On its view, state law then in effect allowed the trial judge to suspend the life-without-parole sentence and commit Jackson to the Department of Human Services for a "training-school program," at the end of which he could be placed on probation. Brief for Respondent in No. 10-9647, pp. 36-37 (hereinafter Arkansas Brief) (citing Ark. Code Ann. § 12-28-403(b)(2) (1999)). But Arkansas never raised that objection in the state courts, and they treated Jackson's sentence as mandatory. We abide by that interpretation of state law. See, e.g., Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 690-691, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975).
3. The Court of Criminal Appeals also affirmed the juvenile court's denial of Miller's request for funds to hire his own mental expert for the transfer hearing. The court pointed out that under governing Alabama Supreme Court precedent, "the procedural requirements of a trial do not ordinarily apply" to those hearings. E.J.M. v. State, 928 So.2d 1077 (Ala.Crim.App.2004) (Cobb, J., concurring in result) (internal quotation marks omitted). In a separate opinion, Judge Cobb agreed on the reigning precedent, but urged the State Supreme Court to revisit the question in light of transfer hearings' importance. See id., at 1081 ("[A]lthough later mental evaluation as an adult affords some semblance of procedural due process, it is, in effect, too little, too late").
4. The three dissenting opinions here each take issue with some or all of those precedents. See post, at 2479-2480 (opinion of ROBERTS, C.J.); post, at 2482-2485 (opinion of THOMAS, J.); post, at 2487-2489 (opinion of ALITO, J.). That is not surprising: their authors (and joiner) each dissented from some or all of those precedents. See, e.g., Kennedy, 554 U.S., at 447, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (ALITO, J., joined by ROBERTS, C.J., and SCALIA and THOMAS, JJ., dissenting); Roper, 543 U.S., at 607, 125 S.Ct. 1183 (SCALIA, J., joined by THOMAS, J., dissenting); Atkins, 536 U.S., at 337, 122 S.Ct. 2242 (SCALIA, J., joined by THOMAS, J., dissenting); Thompson, 487 U.S., at 859, 108 S.Ct. 2687 (SCALIA, J., dissenting); Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461, 487, 113 S.Ct. 892, 122 L.Ed.2d 260 (1993) (THOMAS, J., concurring) (contending that Woodson was wrongly decided). In particular, each disagreed with the majority's reasoning in Graham, which is the foundation stone of our analysis. See Graham, 560 U.S., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2036 (ROBERTS, C.J., concurring in judgment); id., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2043-2056 (THOMAS, J., joined by SCALIA and ALITO, JJ., dissenting); id., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2058 (ALITO, J., dissenting). While the dissents seek to relitigate old Eighth Amendment battles, repeating many arguments this Court has previously (and often) rejected, we apply the logic of Roper, Graham, and our individualized sentencing decisions to these two cases.
5. The evidence presented to us in these cases indicates that the science and social science supporting Roper's and Graham's conclusions have become even stronger. See, e.g., Brief for American Psychological Association et al. as Amici Curiae 3 ("[A]n ever-growing body of research in developmental psychology and neuroscience continues to confirm and strengthen the Court's conclusions"); id., at 4 ("It is increasingly clear that adolescent brains are not yet fully mature in regions and systems related to higher-order executive functions such as impulse control, planning ahead, and risk avoidance"); Brief for J. Lawrence Aber et al. as Amici Curiae 12-28 (discussing post-Graham studies); id., at 26-27 ("Numerous studies post-Graham indicate that exposure to deviant peers leads to increased deviant behavior and is a consistent predictor of adolescent delinquency" (footnote omitted)).
6. In discussing Graham, the dissents essentially ignore all of this reasoning. See post, at 2478-2480 (opinion of ROBERTS, C.J.); post, at 2488-2489 (opinion of ALITO, J.). Indeed, THE CHIEF JUSTICE ignores the points made in his own concurring opinion. The only part of Graham that the dissents see fit to note is the distinction it drew between homicide and nonhomicide offenses. See post, at 2480-2481 (opinion of ROBERTS, C.J.); post, at 2488-2489 (opinion of ALITO, J.). But contrary to the dissents' charge, our decision today retains that distinction: Graham established one rule (a flat ban) for nonhomicide offenses, while we set out a different one (individualized sentencing) for homicide offenses.
7. Although adults are subject as well to the death penalty in many jurisdictions, very few offenders actually receive that sentence. See, e.g., Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, S. Rosenmerkel, M. Durose, & D. Farole, Felony Sentences in State Courts 2006 — Statistical Tables, p. 28 (Table 4.4) (rev. Nov. 22, 2010). So in practice, the sentencing schemes at issue here result in juvenile homicide offenders receiving the same nominal punishment as almost all adults, even though the two classes differ significantly in moral culpability and capacity for change.
8. Given our holding, and the dissents' competing position, we see a certain irony in their repeated references to 17-year-olds who have committed the "most heinous" offenses, and their comparison of those defendants to the 14-year-olds here. See post, at 2477 (opinion of ROBERTS, C.J.) (noting the "17-year old [who] is convicted of deliberately murdering an innocent victim"); post, at 2478 ("the most heinous murders"); post, at 2480 ("the worst types of murder"); post, at 2489 (opinion of ALITO, J.) (warning the reader not to be "confused by the particulars" of these two cases); post, at 2489 (discussing the "17½-year-old who sets off a bomb in a crowded mall"). Our holding requires factfinders to attend to exactly such circumstances — to take into account the differences among defendants and crimes. By contrast, the sentencing schemes that the dissents find permissible altogether preclude considering these factors.
9. The States note that 26 States and the Federal Government make life without parole the mandatory (or mandatory minimum) punishment for some form of murder, and would apply the relevant provision to 14-year-olds (with many applying it to even younger defendants). See Alabama Brief 17-18. In addition, life without parole is mandatory for older juveniles in Louisiana (age 15 and up) and Texas (age 17). See La. Child. Code Ann., Arts. 857(A), (B) (West Supp. 2012); La.Rev.Stat. Ann. §§ 14:30(C), 14:30.1(B) (West Supp.2012); Tex. Family Code Ann. §§ 51.02(2)(A), 54.02(a)(2)(A) (West Supp. 2011); Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.31(a) (West 2011). In many of these jurisdictions, life without parole is the mandatory punishment only for aggravated forms of murder. That distinction makes no difference to our analysis. We have consistently held that limiting a mandatory death penalty law to particular kinds of murder cannot cure the law's "constitutional vice" of disregarding the "circumstances of the particular offense and the character and propensities of the offender." Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 333, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976) (plurality opinion); see Sumner v. Shuman, 483 U.S. 66, 107 S.Ct. 2716, 97 L.Ed.2d 56 (1987). The same analysis applies here, for the same reasons.
10. In assessing indicia of societal standards, Graham discussed "actual sentencing practices" in addition to legislative enactments, noting how infrequently sentencers imposed the statutorily available penalty. 560 U.S., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2023. Here, we consider the constitutionality of mandatory sentencing schemes — which by definition remove a judge's or jury's discretion — so no comparable gap between legislation and practice can exist. Rather than showing whether sentencers consider life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders appropriate, the number of juveniles serving this sentence, see post, at 2477, 2478-2479 (ROBERTS, C.J., dissenting), merely reflects the number who have committed homicide in mandatory-sentencing jurisdictions. For the same reason, THE CHIEF JUSTICE's comparison of ratios in this case and Graham carries little weight. He contrasts the number of mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile murderers, relative to the number of juveniles arrested for murder, with "the corresponding number" of sentences in Graham (i.e., the number of life-without-parole sentences for juveniles who committed serious nonhomicide crimes, as compared to arrests for those crimes). Post, at 2461-2462. But because the mandatory nature of the sentences here necessarily makes them more common, THE CHIEF JUSTICE's figures do not "correspon[d]" at all. The higher ratio is mostly a function of removing the sentencer's discretion.
Where mandatory sentencing does not itself account for the number of juveniles serving life-without-parole terms, the evidence we have of practice supports our holding. Fifteen jurisdictions make life without parole discretionary for juveniles. See Alabama Brief 25 (listing 12 States); Cal.Penal Code Ann. § 190.5(b) (West 2008); Ind.Code § 35-50-2-3(b) (2011); N.M. Stat. §§ 31-18-13(B), 31-18-14, 31-18-15.2 (2010). According to available data, only about 15% of all juvenile life-without-parole sentences come from those 15 jurisdictions, while 85% come from the 29 mandatory ones. See Tr. of Oral Arg. in No. 10-9646, p. 19; Human Rights Watch, State Distribution of Youth Offenders Serving Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP), Oct. 2, 2009, online at http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/10/02/state-distribution-juvenile-offenders-serving-juvenile-life-without-parole (as visited June 21, 2012, and available in Clerk of Court's case file). That figure indicates that when given the choice, sentencers impose life without parole on children relatively rarely. And contrary to THE CHIEF JUSTICE's argument, see post, at 2462, n. 2, we have held that when judges and juries do not often choose to impose a sentence, it at least should not be mandatory. See Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 295-296, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976) (plurality opinion) (relying on the infrequency with which juries imposed the death penalty when given discretion to hold that its mandatory imposition violates the Eighth Amendment).
11. In response, THE CHIEF JUSTICE complains: "To say that a sentence may be considered unusual because so many legislatures approve it stands precedent on its head." Post, at 2479. To be clear: That description in no way resembles our opinion. We hold that the sentence violates the Eighth Amendment because, as we have exhaustively shown, it conflicts with the fundamental principles of Roper, Graham, and our individualized sentencing cases. We then show why the number of States imposing this punishment does not preclude our holding, and note how its mandatory nature (in however many States adopt it) makes use of actual sentencing numbers unilluminating.
12. THE CHIEF JUSTICE attempts to distinguish Graham on this point, arguing that there "the extreme rarity with which the sentence in question was imposed could suggest that legislatures did not really intend the inevitable result of the laws they passed." Post, at 2480. But neither Graham nor Thompson suggested such reasoning, presumably because the time frame makes it difficult to comprehend. Those cases considered what legislators intended when they enacted, at different moments, separate juvenile-transfer and life-without-parole provisions — by definition, before they knew or could know how many juvenile life-without-parole sentences would result.
13. See Ala.Code §§ 13A-5-45(f), 13A-6-2(c) (2005 and Cum. Supp. 2011); Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 13-752 (West 2010), § 41-1604.09(I) (West 2011); Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53a-35a(1) (2011); Del.Code Ann., Tit. 11, § 4209(a) (2007); Fla. Stat. § 775.082(1) (2010); Haw. Rev.Stat. § 706-656(1) (1993); Idaho Code § 18-4004 (Lexis 2004); Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 791.234(6)(a) (West Cum. Supp. 2012); Minn.Stat. Ann. §§ 609.106, subd. 2 (West 2009); Neb.Rev.Stat. § 29-2522 (2008); N.H.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 630:1-a (West 2007); 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 1102(a), (b), 61 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 6137(a)(1) (Supp.2012); S.D. Codified Laws § 22-6-1(1) (2006), § 24-15-4 (2004); Vt. Stat. Ann., Tit. 13, § 2311(c)(2009); Wash. Rev.Code § 10.95.030(1) (2010).
14. See Del.Code Ann., Tit. 10, § 1010 (1999 and Cum. Supp. 2010), Tit. 11, § 4209(a) (2007); Fla. Stat. § 985.56 (2010), 775.082(1); Haw.Rev.Stat. § 571-22(d) (1993), § 706-656(1); Idaho Code §§ 20-508, 20-509 (Lexis Cum. Supp. 2012), § 18-4004; Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 712A.2d (West 2009), § 791.234(6)(a); Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 43-247, 29-2522 (2008); 42 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 6355(e) (2000), 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 1102. Other States set ages between 8 and 10 as the minimum for transfer, thus exposing those young children to mandatory life without parole. See S.D. Codified Laws §§ 26-8C-2, 26-11-4 (2004), § 22-6-1 (age 10); Vt. Stat. Ann., Tit. 33, § 5204 (2011 Cum. Supp.), Tit. 13, § 2311(a) (2009) (age 10); Wash. Rev. Code §§ 9A.04.050, 13.40.110 (2010), § 10.95.030 (age 8).
15. See Ala.Code § 12-15-204(a) (Cum. Supp. 2011); Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 13-501(A) (West Cum. Supp. 2011); Conn. Gen.Stat. § 46b-127 (2011); Ill. Comp. Stat. ch. 705, §§ 405/5-130(1)(a), (4)(a) (West 2010); La. Child. Code Ann., Art. 305(A) (West Cum. Supp. 2012); Mass. Gen. Laws, ch. 119, § 74 (West 2010); Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 712A.2(a) (West 2002); Minn.Stat. Ann. § 260B.007, subd. 6(b) (West Cum. Supp. 2011), § 260B.101, subd. 2 (West 2007); Mo.Rev.Stat. §§ 211.021(1), (2) (2011); N.C. Gen.Stat. Ann. §§ 7B-1501(7), 7B-1601(a), 7B-2200 (Lexis 2011); N.H.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 169-B:2(IV) (West Cum. Supp. 2011), § 169-B:3 (West 2010); Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2152.12(A)(1)(a) (Lexis 2011); Tex. Family Code Ann. § 51.02(2); Va.Code Ann. §§ 16.1-241(A), 16.1-269.1(B), (D) (Lexis 2010).
16. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 985.557(1) (West Supp. 2012); Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 712A.2(a)(1); Va.Code Ann. §§ 16.1-241(A), 16.1-269.1(C), (D).
1. Graham stated that 123 prisoners were serving life without parole for nonhomicide offenses committed as juveniles, while in 2007 alone 380,480 juveniles were arrested for serious nonhomicide crimes. 560 U.S., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2024-2025. I use 2,000 as the number of prisoners serving mandatory life without parole sentences for murders committed as juveniles, because all seem to accept that the number is at least that high. And the same source Graham used reports that 1,170 juveniles were arrested for murder and nonnegligent homicide in 2009. Dept. of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, C. Puzzanchera & B. Adams, Juvenile Arrests 2009, p. 4 (Dec. 2011).
2. The Court's reference to discretionary sentencing practices is a distraction. See ante, at 2471-2472, n. 10. The premise of the Court's decision is that mandatory sentences are categorically different from discretionary ones. So under the Court's own logic, whether discretionary sentences are common or uncommon has nothing to do with whether mandatory sentences are unusual. In any event, if analysis of discretionary sentences were relevant, it would not provide objective support for today's decision. The Court states that "about 15% of all juvenile life-without-parole sentences" — meaning nearly 400 sentences — were imposed at the discretion of a judge or jury. Ante, at 2471-2472, n. 10. Thus the number of discretionary life without parole sentences for juvenile murderers, relative to the number of juveniles arrested for murder, is about 1,000 times higher than the corresponding number in Graham.
3. The Court claims that I "take issue with some or all of these precedents" and "seek to relitigate" them. Ante, at 2464, n. 4. Not so: applying this Court's cases exactly as they stand, I do not believe they support the Court's decision in this case.
1. I join THE CHIEF JUSTICE's opinion because it accurately explains that, even accepting the Court's precedents, the Court's holding in today's cases is unsupportable.
2. Neither the Court nor petitioners argue that petitioners' sentences would have been among "the `modes or acts of punishment that had been considered cruel and unusual at the time that the Bill of Rights was adopted.'" Graham, 560 U.S., at ___, n. 3, 130 S.Ct., at 2048, n. 3 (THOMAS, J., dissenting) (quoting Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 405, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986)). Nor could they. Petitioners were 14 years old at the time they committed their crimes. When the Bill of Rights was ratified, 14-year-olds were subject to trial and punishment as adult offenders. See Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 609, n. 1, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) (SCALIA, J., dissenting). Further, mandatory death sentences were common at that time. See Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 994-995, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991). It is therefore implausible that a 14-year-old's mandatory prison sentence — of any length, with or without parole — would have been viewed as cruel and unusual.
3. The Court later extended Woodson, requiring that capital defendants be permitted to present, and sentencers in capital cases be permitted to consider, any relevant mitigating evidence, including the age of the defendant. See, e.g., Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 597-608, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978) (plurality opinion); Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 110-112, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982); Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1, 4-5, 106 S.Ct. 1669, 90 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986); Johnson v. Texas, 509 U.S. 350, 361-368, 113 S.Ct. 2658, 125 L.Ed.2d 290 (1993). Whatever the validity of the requirement that sentencers be permitted to consider all mitigating evidence when deciding whether to impose a nonmandatory capital sentence, the Court certainly was wrong to prohibit mandatory capital sentences. See Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461, 488-500, 113 S.Ct. 892, 122 L.Ed.2d 260 (1993) (THOMAS, J., concurring).
4. In support of its decision not to apply Harmelin to juvenile offenders, the Court also observes that "`[o]ur history is replete with laws and judicial recognition that children cannot be viewed simply as miniature adults.'" Ante, at 2470 (quoting J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. ___, ___, 131 S.Ct. 2394, 2404, 180 L.Ed.2d 310 (2011) (some internal quotation marks omitted)). That is no doubt true as a general matter, but it does not justify usurping authority that rightfully belongs to the people by imposing a constitutional rule where none exists.
1. Between 2002 and 2010, 17-year-olds committed an average combined total of 424 murders and nonnegligent homicides per year. See Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, § 4, Arrests, Age of persons arrested (Table 4.7).
2. As the Court noted in Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 366, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989), Congress passed the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 to eliminate discretionary sentencing and parole because it concluded that these practices had led to gross abuses. The Senate Report for the 1984 bill rejected what it called the "outmoded rehabilitation model" for federal criminal sentencing. S.Rep. No. 98-225, p. 38 (1983). According to the Report, "almost everyone involved in the criminal justice system now doubts that rehabilitation can be induced reliably in a prison setting, and it is now quite certain that no one can really detect whether or when a prisoner is rehabilitated." Ibid. The Report also "observed that the indeterminate-sentencing system had two `unjustifi[ed]' and `shameful' consequences. The first was the great variation among sentences imposed by different judges upon similarly situated offenders. The second was uncertainty as to the time the offender would spend in prison. Each was a serious impediment to an evenhanded and effective operation of the criminal justice system." Mistretta, supra, at 366, 109 S.Ct. 647 (quoting S.Rep. No. 98-225, at 38, 65 (citation omitted)).
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