I. Introduction Sinmyah Amera Ceasar (“Ceasar” or “Defendant”) pled guilty to (1) conspiring to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (“ISIL” or “ISIS”), designated by our government as a foreign terrorist organization, and (2) obstruction of an official proceeding. Extensive sentencing hearings were conducted. The parties filed briefs and provided the court with more than 1,000 pages of exhibits. Over the course of three days, the court heard testimony from five experts. Defendant’s half-brother submitted a letter in support of his sibling. She spoke at length on her own behalf. Defendant had a traumatic life: Now 24 years old, she is a survivor of serious sexual, physical, and emotional trauma. Her father abused her sexually. Her mother’s limiting physical conditions prevented her care of Ceasar, so Defendant was repeatedly shifted from foster care placement to foster care placement, and abused continuously along the way. Her three husbands were each physically and emotionally abusive. Identifying as Muslim, as a young adult, Ceasar sought acceptance with an organization advocating violence and destruction in the United States and other parts of the world: ISIL. She connected individuals in the United States with individuals affiliated with ISIL and posted propaganda for ISIL online. She planned to travel to ISIL territory and to join the organization there. Subsequent to her guilty plea for conspiracy to provide material support, when on presentence release because of health problems, Ceasar engaged in similar conduct, lied to the government about it, and deleted records of her communications favoring ISIL. Against this backdrop of aiding ISIL, under federal penal jurisprudence, the court considers general and specific deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and punishment. She is sentenced to a total of 48 months of incarceration — about 28 months already served while she awaited sentencing in jail. Incarceration is to be followed by eight years of supervised release. The sentence is designed to ensure that (1) the public is adequately protected from ISIL and organizations like it, (2) Ceasar is punished for her dangerous criminal conduct, and (3) her rehabilitation to a productive, lawful citizen of the United States is encouraged. It is apparent that this young woman is in need of long-term intensive educational, emotional, and economic support to address her traumas, which have, in part, motivated her actions to join a dangerous organization as a substitute for normal family life. In Europe, countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands have designed and used intensive disengagement and deradicalization programs to assist prisoners charged and convicted of terrorism-related offenses. The United States has no such program. The Bureau of Prisons should seriously consider designing an appropriate program to deal with American terrorists like this one. Without access to treatment while incarcerated or on supervised release, Defendant will likely remain an unrehabilitated supporter of ISIL and a continuing danger to the United States. Ceasar’s counsel and the Probation Department are developing a program of intensive treatment and support for the term of her supervision after her incarceration; the treatment should begin in prison and connect seamlessly with control and assistance by Probation. The sentence is sufficient, but not greater than necessary. The Bureau of Prisons and other relevant federal agencies should design and use disengagement and deradicalization programs to help ensure that people in similar circumstances have a reasonable chance at rehabilitation. See United States v. Doe, 323 F. Supp. 3d 368 (E.D.N.Y. 2018) (explaining the non-incarceration sentence of a young person who had broken from ISIL and was on the path to reintegration into lawful society). II. Facts A. Defendant’s Background Ceasar had a difficult childhood: She was born in New Jersey in 1994. Revised Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) 81. She is the only child born to her parents, who divorced when she was three years old following her father’s physical abuse of her mother. Id. Ceasar’s mother had custody of her during the week, and her father had custody on weekends. Def.’s Sent. Mem. 3, No. 17-cr-48, ECF No. 102. Defendant has four paternal half-siblings, but has a passing relationship with only her oldest half-brother. PSR 82. He is now supportive, intending to help her live a lawful way of life. Id.; Def. Ex. XX (letter of Defendant’s half — brother in support of Defendant). Ceasar’s father sexually abused her from the age of four to 11. PSR 81. Defendant’s mother reported the abuse. Id. A restraining order was issued against him. Id. Though out of contact with him for many years, she saw him mostly recently in 2017, when he criticized her for her involvement in the instant offenses and for bringing dishonor on her family. Def.’s Sent. Mem. 6. She has been ostracized by all in the family but the half-brother. Ceasar’s mother was gravely ill for most of Defendant’s life, suffering from diabetes and kidney failure. PSR
81, 83. Her mother was unable to work as a result of her physical maladies; the two suffered financially. PSR 83. When Ceasar was seven, her mother became blind because of diabetes-related complications. PSR 81; Def.’s Sent. Mem. 3. By the time Ceasar was ten, she was her mother’s primary caregiver. Def.’s Sent. Mem. 3-4. Defendant was responsible for grocery shopping, cooking meals, cleaning their apartment, and monitoring her mother’s medication and medical appointments. Id. The mother’s medical complications became so serious that when Ceasar was 13, her mother was admitted to a nursing home, where she remained until her death from a heart attack in 2017 at the age of 49. PSR
