Orrin Hatch: “I personally believe we can do that. We did have a hearing in 2000. The hearing was extensive and led to this…”

“I personally believe we can do that. We did have a hearing in 2000. The hearing was extensive and led to this legislation. By the way, the number on the chart excluded departure requests made by the prosecutors under Section 5K1.1 of the Guidelines, when a defendant provides ``substantial assistance'' to the government. We counted 4,098 downward departures excluding the so-called ``5K1.1 motions'' made by the government. The number of downward departures has risen from 1,241 in 1991. Any Senator should see that this increase is the reason for our concern. I do not disagree with the distinguished Senator. I think it would be good to find out what the Senator wants to know, and that is, if I understand him correctly, he is asking for a hearing on downward departures.”