AMENDMENT 585

Amendment: Section 5K2.0 is amended in the first paragraph in the first sentence by inserting a comma after "3553(b)"; by striking "guideline" and inserting "guidelines"; in the second sentence by striking "guidelines" and inserting "guideline range"; in the third sentence by striking "controlling" after "The"; by striking "can only be made by the courts" and inserting "rests with the sentencing court on a case-specific basis"; in the last sentence by inserting "determining" after "consideration in"; by striking "guidelines" the second place it appears and inserting "guideline range"; by striking "guideline level" and inserting "weight"; by inserting "under the guidelines" after "factor"; and by inserting before the period at the end "or excessive".

Section 5K2.0 is amended in the last paragraph by striking "An" and inserting "Finally, an"; by striking "not ordinarily relevant" and inserting ", in the Commission’s view, ‘not ordinarily relevant’"; and by striking "in a way that is important to the statutory purposes of sentencing".

The Commentary to §5K2.0 is amended by inserting before the first paragraph the following:

" The United States Supreme Court has determined that, in reviewing a district court’s decision to depart from the guidelines, appellate courts are to apply an abuse of discretion standard, because the decision to depart embodies the traditional exercise of discretion by the sentencing court. Koon v. United States, 116 S. Ct. 2035 (1996). Furthermore, ‘[b]efore a departure is permitted, certain aspects of the case must be found unusual enough for it to fall outside the heartland of cases in the Guideline. To resolve this question, the district court must make a refined assessment of the many facts bearing on the outcome, informed by its vantage point and day-to-day experience in criminal sentencing. Whether a given factor is present to a degree not adequately considered by the Commission, or whether a discouraged factor nonetheless justifies departure because it is present in some unusual or exceptional way, are matters determined in large part by comparison with the facts of other Guidelines cases. District Courts have an institutional advantage over appellate courts in making these sorts of determinations, especially as they see so many more Guidelines cases than appellate courts do.’ Id. at 2046-47.".

Reason for Amendment: The purpose of this amendment is to reference specifically in the general departure policy statement the United States Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Koon, 116 S. Ct. 2035 (1996). This amendment (1) incorporates the principal holding and key analytical points from the Koon decision into the general departure policy statement, §5K2.0; (2) deletes language inconsistent with the holding of Koon; and (3) makes minor, non-substantive changes that improve the precision of the language of §5K2.0.

Effective Date: The effective date of this amendment is November 1, 1998.