What is the Interactive Data Analyzer (IDA)?
The Interactive Data Analyzer (IDA) is an online tool that can be used to explore, filter, customize, and visualize federal sentencing data. IDA presents annual data that is stored in a secure data warehouse and refreshed periodically with the latest information collected, received, and edited by the Commission.
IDA offers prebuilt data dashboards for the four most common crime types in the federal caseload and for other common areas of interest. You can navigate to these sections using the main menu.
If you're looking for more granular data, use the filtering menu along the left side of any page. You can select data by fiscal years, jurisdictions, offender characteristics, or other variables. Filtering options will vary based on the topics you choose.
Click the button below to explore IDA!
Go behind the scenes with IDA in this Commission Chats podcast episode! Kris Tennyson, Deputy Director of the Office of Research and Data, talks about its development, how to best utilize it, and what the future holds for IDA. Listen here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I navigate the IDA platform?
If you are new to sentencing data, we recommend exploring IDA using the main menu along the top of the page. The federal criminal caseload is comprised of four major crime types. IDA presents data dashboards for these crime types and other common areas of interest. You can navigate to these sections using the main menu.
If you're looking for more granular data, use the filter menu along the left-hand side of any page. You can select specific fiscal years, jurisdictions, offender characteristics, or other variables. Filtering options will vary based on the topics you choose.
How do I customize the figures and tables?
The tables and figures on IDA are easily customizable! Every time you filter the data, IDA will create a custom set of tables or figures that reflect only the data you have selected. Whatever customizations you have selected will be displayed on the filter options on the left side of the page and at the bottom of each figure.
The tables and figures can be customized using one year of data or multiple years of data. If more than one year of data is selected, the data will be aggregated in the tables and figures, unless the figure displays trend data by year.
Using several filters at one time can result in a small number of cases in any particular table or figure. For example, when using numerous filters, it may be possible that some figures will display percentages or averages of a very small number of cases. The Commission cautions that analyses based on small populations may have limited informational value in discerning trends, generalizing to larger populations, or making other statistical observations.
Can I search for information on a particular case?
No. Consistent with its policies and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts concerning the appropriate treatment of confidential sentencing data, the Commission does not disclose information specific to any particular case or release any information that will identify an individual defendant or any other person identified in the sentencing information. Consistent with other public Commission reports or summaries containing sentencing information, IDA data does not include any confidential identifying information and is aggregated to avoid identification of a particular case.
Does IDA use the same data reported in other Commission publications?
IDA's data analyses are the most up-to-date results available and may not match previous printed publications. Operating off the Commission's data warehouse, IDA reflects sentencing information that sometimes comes to the Commission after the end of a fiscal year. Therefore, IDA contains sentencing data that is not captured on the Commission's static datafiles, which are used to create Commission publications, like the Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics.
Please note that, at times, cases will be excluded from those tables or figures due to incomplete or missing information. Therefore, it is possible that the tables or figures may include fewer cases than the total possible number of cases (N).
Who can I ask if I run into a problem with IDA and need assistance?
You can Ask IDA! Send your inquiry regarding the Commission data to AskIDA@ussc.gov.