What factors must a court consider when sentencing a defendant to a reduced sentence under section 3553(a) of the Criminal Code?

Ultimately, after consideration of the section 3553(a) factors, the district court must impose a sentence that is sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to fulfill the purposes of sentencing. In doing so, if the court determines that a lower sentence will be just as effective as a higher sentence, it must choose the lower sentence. See United States v. Ministro-Tapia , 470 F.3d 137, 142 (2d Cir. 2006) ("[I]f a district court were explicitly to conclude that two sentences equally served the statutory purposes of [ section] 3553, it could not, consistent with the parsimony clause, impose the higher."). Whether the sentence is consistent with the parsimony clause of section 3553(a) is a question of substantive reasonableness.