context: Florida courts have consistently held that family support concerns are not valid reasons for downward departure.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.identifier: 799 So.2d 243, 248
citation_a.parenthetical: concluding "it would not be good public policy for the legislature to punish those with families to support less than those without families"
citation_a.sentence: See Rafferty v. State, 799 So.2d 243, 248 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (concluding “it would not be good public policy for the legislature to punish those with families to support less than those without families”); State v. Bray, 738 So.2d 962, 963 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (stating “[w]hile we are not unsympathetic to the trial judge’s concern that incarcerating Bray may place the burden of caring for the child on the taxpayers of this state, such a consideration cannot be employed in determining whether one defendant will be incarcerated while another will be given a nonincarcerative sentence”); State v. Warren, 629 So.2d 1014, 1015 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (listing the fact that the defendant had an elderly mother who needed his support as one of several insufficient reasons for downward departure); see also State v. Chapman, 805 So.2d 906, 907-08 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (noting the court had previously rejected the defendant’s need to support his child as a reason for a downward departure).
citation_b.signal: see also
citation_b.identifier: 805 So.2d 906, 907-08
citation_b.parenthetical: noting the court had previously rejected the defendant's need to support his child as a reason for a downward departure
citation_b.sentence: See Rafferty v. State, 799 So.2d 243, 248 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (concluding “it would not be good public policy for the legislature to punish those with families to support less than those without families”); State v. Bray, 738 So.2d 962, 963 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (stating “[w]hile we are not unsympathetic to the trial judge’s concern that incarcerating Bray may place the burden of caring for the child on the taxpayers of this state, such a consideration cannot be employed in determining whether one defendant will be incarcerated while another will be given a nonincarcerative sentence”); State v. Warren, 629 So.2d 1014, 1015 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (listing the fact that the defendant had an elderly mother who needed his support as one of several insufficient reasons for downward departure); see also State v. Chapman, 805 So.2d 906, 907-08 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (noting the court had previously rejected the defendant’s need to support his child as a reason for a downward departure).