Alcee Hastings: “I would urge my good friend from Florida, and he is my good friend, to take into consideration when we decry downward…”

“I would urge my good friend from Florida, and he is my good friend, to take into consideration when we decry downward departures that the people that are on the firing line, the Article III judges, make those departures after very careful consideration. Having served in that branch of government at one point and being an opponent, as almost universally the Federal judges were, of mandatory sentencing and sentencing guidelines, it is not to be taken lightly. I agree with the gentleman that the appellate review is more than necessary and reporting regarding same should be important. But please do not take the downward departures to mean that the judges did not see something that we do not have an opportunity, when we make these laws, to clearly understand what the judge in fact saw and heard in the sentencing provision, or even in the trial. I could cite numerous examples where downward departures have saved families and lives. I would hope my friend would understand that.”