| United States Sentencing Commission

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 2021 (October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021).

2021 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.

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Federal Robbery: Prevalence, Trends, and Factors in Sentencing

(August 2022) This comprehensive study provides information on the prevalence of robbery offenses and how they were committed—including who was robbed, what was taken, the use of physical force, the use of a weapon, and whether any victim was injured during the robbery.

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What Do Federal Firearms Offenses Really Look Like?

(July 2022) This report provides in-depth information on federal firearms offenders sentenced under the primary firearms guideline, §2K2.1.

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Federal Sentencing of Illegal Reentry: The Impact of the 2016 Guideline Amendment

(July 2022) This report examines the impact of Amendment 802 by looking back at sentencings under §2L1.2 over the last ten fiscal years.

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Prison & Sentencing Impact Assessments

(August 2022) When possible, the Commission performs prison and sentencing impact assessments as part of its consideration of amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines and when requested by Congress.

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Retroactivity Analyses and Data Reports

(August 2022) 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.

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Quarterly Sentencing Updates

(June 2022) The preliminary data in these reports present selected quarterly sentencing information submitted to the Commission by the U.S. Courts.

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Compassionate Release Data Reports

(May 2022) This report provides an analysis of the compassionate release motions filed with the courts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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2021 Federal Sentencing Statistics

(April 2022) These reports compare FY 2021 federal sentencing statistics for each judicial district, judicial circuit, and state to the nation as a whole.

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Guideline Application Frequencies

(April 2021) These annual reports provide data on the frequency of application of specific guidelines, including increases for aggravating factors and decreases for mitigating factors.

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Tax Fraud

(August 2022) In fiscal year 2021, there were 370 tax fraud offenders sentenced under the guidelines. The number of tax fraud offenders has decreased by 38.1% since fiscal year 2017.

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Securities and Investment Fraud

(August 2022) In fiscal year 2021, there were 141 securities and investment fraud offenders sentenced under the guidelines. The number of securities and investment fraud offenders has decreased by 38.7% since fiscal year 2017.

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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.

2017 Report to the Congress: Document Submission Compliance of District Courts

(March 2017) This report is submitted to Congress pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(3) regarding the compliance of the federal district courts with the documentation submission requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(1).

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2016 Report to the Congress: Career Offender Enhancements

(July 2016) This report presents findings of the Commission's multi-year study of statutory and guideline definitions relating to the nature of a defendant’s prior conviction and the impact of such definitions on the relevant statutory and guideline provisions.

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2016 Report to the Congress: Document Submission Compliance of District Courts

(June 2016) This report is submitted to Congress pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(3) regarding the compliance of the federal district courts with the documentation submission requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(1).

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Sourcebooks of Federal Sentencing Statistics

Interactive Data Analyzer

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