JUDGE JACKSON: THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME CLARIFY. THE STATEMENTS THAT I MADE ABOUT MY PRACTICES AS A TRIAL JUDGE, WHICH I AM NO LONGER A TRIAL JUDGE, WERE INTENDED TO EXPLAIN HOW TRIAL JUDGES OPERATE AND HOW THEY IMPOSE SENTENCES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK CONGRESS HAS PROVIDED. THE STATUTE THAT APPLIES TO US TELLS US TO LOOK AT ALL OF THE VARIOUS FACTORS THAT CONGRESS HAS SET FORWARD INCLUDING THE NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE OFFENSE, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEFENDANTS AND TELLS US THAT WE SHOULD BE IMPOSING A SENTENCE SUFFICIENT BUT NOT GREATER THAN NECESSARY TO PROMOTE THE PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT. CONGRESS ALSO TELLS US ONE OF THE PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT IS REHABILITATION. MY ATTEMPTS TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH DEFENDANTS IS ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE INCARCERATED VIA THE FEDERAL SYSTEM AND EVEN VIA THE STATE SYSTEM WILL COME OUT, WILL BE PART OF OUR COMMUNITIES AGAIN. IT IS TO OUR ENTIRE BENEFIT AS CONGRESS HAS RECOGNIZED TO ENSURE THAT PEOPLE WHO COME OUT STOP COMMITTING CRIMES. WHAT I CONVEY OR DID WHEN I WAS A TRIAL JUDGE, AS I SENTENCED PEOPLE TO VERY LENGTHY PERIODS OF INCARCERATION, WAS, YOU ARE GETTING YOUR DAY IN COURT, YOU ARE ABLE TO SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY, BUT YOU HAVE TO SIT HERE AND LISTEN TO MY READING INTO THE RECORDS THE VICTIM STATEMENTS, IN THIS CASE. YOU HAVE TO GO AWAY UNDERSTANDING THAT I AM IMPOSING CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR DECISIONS, YOUR DECISION TO ENGAGE IN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. THE REASON WHY I DID THAT, I HAVE SAID, IS BECAUSE IRAQI-SIZED AS A DEFENDER THAT THERE WERE LOTS OF PEOPLE IN OUR SYSTEM WHO INSTEAD OF TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT THEY HAD DONE AND THEN ULTIMATELY UNDERSTANDING THE HARM AND POTENTIALLY NOT DOING IT AGAIN, INSTEAD OF THAT, THOSE PEOPLE WERE BITTER, ANGRY, FEELING VICTIMIZED BECAUSE THEY DID NOT GET A CHANCE TO SAY WHAT THEY WANTED TO SAY BECAUSE NOBODY EXPLAINED TO THEM THAT DRUG CRIMES ARE REALLY SERIOUS CRIMES. NOBODY SAID TO THEM, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE CHILDREN WHO WILL NEVER HAVE NORMAL LIVES BECAUSE YOU SOLD CRACK TO THEIR PARENTS AND NOW, THEY ARE IN A VORTEX OF ADDICTION. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, MR. DEFENDANT? I WAS THE ONE IN MY SENTENCING PRACTICES WHO EXPLAINED THOSE THINGS IN AN INTEREST OF FURTHERING CONGRESS'S DIRECTION THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SENTENCING PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN ULTIMATELY BE REHABILITATED TO THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. ...