Summary

(Published February 27, 2020)  For the first time, this report provides in-depth criminal history information about federal economic crime offenders, combining the most recently available data from two United States Sentencing Commission projects.

Key Findings

• The application of guideline criminal history provisions differed among the different types of economic crime offenders.
• The extent of prior convictions differed among the different types of economic crime offenders.
  • About half of all federal economic crime offenders had at least one prior conviction in their criminal history.
  • Prior convictions were most common among counterfeit and forgery (71.1%), identity theft (70.4%), credit card fraud (68.7%), and financial institution fraud (68.6%) offenders.
  • Prior convictions were least common among computer-related (29.6%) and government procurement (25.4%) fraud offenders.
• Federal economic crime offenders did not “specialize” in economic crime.
  • Convictions for prior economic offenses were not the predominant types of prior convictions. 
  • Fourteen percent of federal economic crime offenders had convictions for prior economic offenses only, to the exclusion of other types of convictions. 
  • Convictions for prior “other” offenses, such as DUI and public order, were the predominant types of prior convictions.
• The severity of criminal history differed for offenders in the specific types of economic crime.
  • Financial institution fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, mail-related fraud, and counterfeit and forgery offenders had relatively serious criminal histories compared to other economic crime offenders.
  • Government procurement and computer-related fraud offenders had comparatively less serious criminal histories compared to other economic crime offenders.
• Only about one-quarter of federal economic crime offenders with prior convictions were not assigned criminal history points under the guidelines.