Research
The Commission collects, analyzes, and disseminates a broad array of information on federal crime and sentencing practices. The Office of Research and Data collects data from documents submitted by the courts in each case in which a defendant is sentenced. From that data, the Commission prepares and disseminates public reports on a wide variety of sentencing issues. The Commission also uses this data in its consulting capacity to the courts, Congress, and the Executive Branch.


Explore our research and data reports below or download our datafiles and perform your own analysis.
Public Access to Commission Data and Documents

Sourcebooks of Federal Sentencing Statistics


The Sourcebook contains descriptive statistics on the application of the federal sentencing guidelines and provides selected district, circuit, and national sentencing data. The latest edition reports information on offenders sentenced in fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019).

2019 Sourcebook Previous Years




Interactive Data Analyzer



You've got questions, IDA has data. The Interactive Data Analyzer (IDA) is an online tool that can be used to explore, filter, customize, and visualize federal sentencing data for research, policymaking, and sentencing purposes.

IDA presents annual data that is refreshed periodically with the latest information collected, received, and edited by the Commission.

Explore IDA
Quick Facts
See all
  • Federal Offenders in Prison
    As of June 2020, there were 160,823 offenders incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons. Of these offenders, 144,121 are serving a sentence for a federal conviction, most commonly for drug offenses (N=68,354). Slightly more than half of offenders in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (52.8%) were sentenced...

    Learn more
  • Methamphetamine Trafficking
    (June 2020) In fiscal year 2019, there were 8,435 methamphetamine trafficking offenders, who accounted for 42.7% of all offenders sentenced for a drug trafficking offense. Methamphetamine trafficking offenders have increased by 30.9% since fiscal year 2015.

    Learn more
Research Reports
See all
Data Reports
See all
  • Quarterly Sentencing Updates

    (October 2020) The preliminary data in these reports present selected quarterly sentencing information submitted to the Commission by the U.S. Courts.

    Learn more
  • Retroactivity Analyses and Data Reports

    (October 2020) These reports present data on federal cases in which a motion for a reduced sentence was considered as a result of a federal statute or an amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines.

    Learn more
  • Prison & Sentencing Impact Assessments

    (October 2020) When possible, the Commission performs prison and sentencing impact assessments as part of its consideration of amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines. The Commission also is often asked to perform prison and sentencing impact assessments for Congress.

    Learn more
  • 2019 Federal Sentencing Statistics

    (April 2020)  These reports compare FY 2019 federal sentencing statistics for each judicial district, judicial circuit, and state to the nation as a whole.

    Learn more
  • Overview of Federal Criminal Cases, Fiscal Year 2019

    (April 2020) This publication presents a broad overview of federal sentencing data for fiscal year 2019. It provides a brief, easy-to-use reference on the types of criminal cases handled by federal courts and the punishments imposed on offenders convicted in those cases. 

    Learn more
  • Guideline Application Frequencies

    (April 2020) These annual reports provide data on the frequency of application of specific guidelines, including increases for aggravating factors and decreases for mitigating factors.

    Learn more
Commission Datafiles
 
Individual Offenders

The Commission's individual datafiles provide information on the sentences imposed in cases involving individuals. In these datafiles the individual is the unit of analysis. These datafiles do not contain information from the Commission's Organizational, Resentencing, or Appeals Databases.

Corporate Offenders

The Commission's organizational datafiles provide information on the sentences imposed in cases involving organizational offenders (i.e., corporations, partnerships, and other entities having a legal existence separate from the individuals having an interest in them).

Special Projects

Commission datafiles that are used in various reports to Congress. These datafiles may contain information collected during a special coding project performed for a particular report and, therefore, will not be available in the Commission's fiscal year datafiles.

 

Reports to Congress
See all