For each case in its Offender Dataset, the Commission routinely collects case identifiers, sentencing data, demographic variables, statutory information, the complete range of court guideline decisions, and departure and variance information. Throughout 2017, the Commission continued to add data elements to its extensive computerized datafile on defendants sentenced under the guidelines. In addition to its standard data collection, the Commission often codes additional variables to study various distinct issues (e.g., drug offenses, criminal history).
The Commission’s 2017 USSC Offender Dataset contains documentation on 66,873 felony and Class A misdemeanor cases in which the offender was sentenced between October 1, 2016, and September 30, 2017. A “case” is defined as one sentencing event for an individual defendant.
The Organizational Dataset contains documentation on organizations sentenced pursuant to Chapter Eight of the Guidelines Manual in 2017. The Commission collects available data on organizational structure, size, and economic viability; offense of conviction; mode of adjudication; sanctions imposed (including probation and court-ordered compliance programs); and application of the sentencing guidelines. The Commission received information on 131 organizations sentenced pursuant to Chapter Eight of the Guidelines Manual.
While the 2017 reporting year includes cases sentenced between October 1, 2016, and September 30, 2017, it is important to note that the individual offender and organizational data collected and analyzed in the 2017 Annual Report and 2017 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics reflect cases for that fiscal year reported to the Commission (i.e., guidelines cases for which the courts forwarded appropriate documentation to the Commission) by February 14, 2018.
The Appeals Dataset tracks appellate review of sentencing decisions. Information captured in this module includes district, circuit, date of opinion, sentencing issues, and the appellate court’s disposition. The Commission also tracks final opinions and orders, both published and unpublished, in federal criminal appeals. In 2017, the Commission gathered information on 7,808 cases decided by the courts of appeal. Cases involving co-appellants are treated as separate appeals for statistical purposes.
The Commission implemented a data collection system to track resentencings and other modifications of sentence in 2008. The information collected includes judicial district, reason for resentencing, new sentence, and guideline application information, if available. Information is collected on eight types of resentencings and other modifications of sentence. In 2017, the Commission received documentation on 5,243 resentencings and other modifications of sentence.
Additional information on Commission data can also be found using the Commission’s Interactive Data Analyzer (IDA). 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.
1 28 U.S.C. § 994(w); USSG §1B1.9.
2 28 U.S.C. §§ 995(a)(12) and (14) – (16).
3 The Commission’s datasets can be found at https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles.
4 The Consortium’s website address is https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/index.jsp.
