US · guidance
Justice Manual § 9-27.745
Unreasonable or Illegal Sentences
The attorney for the government should oppose attempts by the court to impose any sentence that is: (1) not supported by the law or the evidence; (2) unreasonable in light of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a); (3) below the statutory minimum; (4) above the statutory maximum; or (5) based on a prohibited factor, such as race, religion, gender, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, or political association, activities, or beliefs.
Comment. The prosecutor, with Departmental approval, may appeal a sentence which is unreasonable, unlawful or based on a prohibited factor. The requirements for reporting and seeking approval to appeal adverse sentencing decisions are set forth in JM 9-2.170.
History
[updated February 2018]
Provenance
- Source
- justice.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-20
- Edition
- jm-2026-09-20
- Content hash
a6ea963e96a571da7b1aac9ebc882dfecacfc8e26a8bb6fa494825a060a8f193
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.