NCJ Number
225805
Date Published
2007
Length
18 pages
Annotation
In analyzing U.S. Sentencing Commission data for fiscal years 1991 through 2007, this report shows the changing characteristics of the Federal offender population and the Federal caseload in the types of Federal offenses sentenced over the past 17 years.
Abstract
Over these 17 years, 932,142 persons were sentenced under the Federal sentencing guidelines. The number of Federal offenders sentenced in fiscal year 2007 constitutes a 118-percent increase over the number sentenced in fiscal year 1991. Increases in four offense types accounted for 91.8 percent of this increase: drug trafficking, immigration offenses, fraud, and firearms offenses. The increase in the number of offenders sentenced for drug and immigration offenses accounted for two-thirds of the increased annual caseload. The gender and age of the annual Federal offender population have remained largely unchanged over the past 17 years; however, although the educational characteristics have remained largely unchanged among U.S. citizens sentenced over this time period, for noncitizens there was an increase in the proportion of offenders with less than a high-school education and a decline in those with higher education. There has also been a change in the annual distribution of offenders by race/ethnicity and citizenship. The proportion of noncitizens sentenced increased from 22.7 percent of the annual caseload in fiscal year 1991 to 37.4 percent by fiscal year 2007. Among noncitizens, the proportion of offenders of Hispanic origin increased, with a corresponding decrease among Black, White, and “other” races for noncitizen offenders. Among offenders of U.S. citizenry, there was a similar increase in the proportion of offenders of Hispanic origin, and there were smaller increases in the proportion of Black and “other” races among sentenced Federal offenders. Only the proportion of White offenders declined among U.S. citizens sentenced. 4 tables, 22 figures, and 13 notes