Cite as: 520 U. S. 751 (1997)
Breyer, J., dissenting
translated the words "20 years maximum" in, say, a drug statute into maximum sentences that approximated, say, 12 real-time years. Congress similarly realized that the pre-Guideline sentencing system would have translated the words "30 years maximum" in, say, a drug statute's recidivism provision, into maximum sentences that approximated, say, 20 real-time years. That is to say, Congress realized that, pre-Guidelines (because of parole), even the most serious class of recidivist offenders (in the absence of other aggravating conduct) would have likely been imprisoned for no more than 20 real-time years. Under these circumstances, a legislator could reasonably have taken the career offender statute's basic objective as one of assuring that all three-time recidivists serve the, say, 20 real-time years that only the worst of them would previously have served. That is to say, by mandating sentences at or near the (newly enacted) 20 year nonrecidivist maximum (for large quantities of cocaine), the career offender subsection would ensure that all career offenders serve terms at or near the real-time maximum that only the most serious offenders would have served under a pre-Guidelines (parole-based) system. And in this way as well, the career-offender provision would significantly increase the likely real-time sentences served by most three-time offenders.
To understand the impact of real-time sentencing thus helps explain why recidivist maximums are different from maximums associated with offense characteristics; it shows how the Commission's reading is consistent with Congress' obvious intent to increase recidivist sentences significantly; it shows how a general recidivist Guideline has an effect of a different kind than the statutory recidivist enhancements contained in prior law and hence might have been thought of as operating without reference to those enhancements; and it explains how legislators might reasonably have sought the goals implicit in the Commission's reading of the statute. Of course, it may also be the case that no legislator actually
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