United States v. Wilson, 503 U.S. 329, 15 (1992)

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Cite as: 503 U. S. 329 (1992)

Stevens, J., dissenting

Although Congress' use of the passive voice clearly leaves open the question of who the decisionmaker is with respect to jail credit, the placement of § 3585 in Subchapter D- Imprisonment, in which "the court" is called upon to determine the sentence, § 3581, impose the sentence, § 3582, include a term of supervised release, § 3583, and determine whether the term is to run concurrently or consecutively in the case of multiple sentences, § 3584, clearly points to the judge as the person who is to calculate credit, § 3585, in the first instance. Congress could have made this perfectly clear by repeating the phrase "the court" in § 3585, but that was made almost unnecessary by placing § 3585 in a subchapter in which the court clearly had responsibility for every action that needed to be taken, but could also delegate actions to the appropriate authorities.

II

The Court's textual argument amounts to nothing more than an assertion that because sometimes all issues relating to the credit determination will not be ripe for decision at the time of sentencing, the trial court never has authority to make the credit determination even in cases that are ripe for decision.11 Because this reasoning is so plainly flawed, the

spend in prison until the very day they are released.' Crime Control Act, S. Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. at 49, reprinted in 1984 U. S. Code Cong. & Admin. News at 3232. Allowing the district court, in its discretion, to compute credit time when the sentence is imposed furthers this congressional purpose by informing one convicted of a crime at the outset of their sentence precisely how long they will spend in prison." United States v. Chalker, 915 F. 2d, at 1258 (footnotes omitted).

11 Certainly there are some credit issues that can arise that are ripe for decision at the time of the sentencing hearing. What constitutes "official detention" is one such issue. It is also an issue on which the Courts of Appeals are currently divided. For example, in Moreland v. United States, 932 F. 2d 690, 692 (1991), the Eighth Circuit agreed with Moreland that he should receive credit for the time he spent at a community treatment center; however, in United States v. Insley, 927 F. 2d 185, 186 (1991), the Fourth Circuit held that Insley's conditions of release did not consti-

343

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