172
Opinion of the Court
federal assault prohibition is less comprehensive than the federal murder statute, and the relevant statutory relationships are less direct than those at issue here. We conclude that the consideration to which the Government points is not strong enough to open a child-related "gap" in the comprehensive effort to define murder on federal enclaves.
For these reasons we agree with the Fifth Circuit that federal law does not assimilate the child victim provision of Louisiana's first-degree murder statute.
IV
The Fifth Circuit affirmed petitioner's conviction on the ground that the jury, in convicting petitioner under the Louisiana statute, necessarily found all of the requisite elements of the federal second-degree murder offense. 92 F. 3d, at 1379; cf. Rutledge v. United States, 517 U. S., at 305- 306. Petitioner does not contest the legal correctness of this conclusion.
Petitioner, however, does argue that the Fifth Circuit was wrong to affirm her sentence (life imprisonment). She points out that the federal second-degree murder statute, unlike Louisiana's first-degree murder statute, does not make a life sentence mandatory. See 18 U. S. C. § 1111(b) (sentence of "any term of years or for life"). Moreover, the Sentencing Guidelines provide for a range of 168 to 210 months' imprisonment for a first-time offender who murders a "vulnerable victim," United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual §§ 2A1.2, 3A1.1, and ch. 5, pt. A (Nov. 1994), although a judge could impose a higher sentence by departing from the Guidelines range. See id., ch. 5, pt. K; see also Koon v. United States, 518 U. S. 81, 92-96 (1996) (describing circumstances for departures).
The Government concedes petitioner's point. The Solicitor General writes:
"If the jury had found petitioner guilty of second degree murder under federal law, the district court would have
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