federal criminal case processing, 1999; with trends 1982

U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice Programs

Federal Justice Statistics: Reconciled Data

Federal Criminal CaseProcessing, 1999With trends 1982-99

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 19990

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000Federal criminal case processing, 1994-99

Defendants convicted

Defendants imprisoned

Suspects investigated

Defendants charged

Bureau of Justice Statistics

BJS

This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to the http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#fccprd

U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsBureau of Justice Statistics

Federal Criminal CaseProcessing, 1999With trends 1982-99

Federal Justice Statistics: Reconciled Data

February 2001, NCJ 186180

U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsBureau of Justice Statistics

This Bureau of Justice Statistics Report was prepared bythe Urban Institute under the supervision of Steven K. Smithand John Scalia, Jr., of the Bureau of Justice Statistics(BJS). This report was prepared under BJS grant number98-BJ-CX-K015. Principal staff at the Urban Institute wereWilliam J. Sabol, William Adams, Avi Bhati,Barbara Parthasarathy, and Yan Yuan. Layout and designwere by David Williams. Tom Hester and Ellen Goldberg ofBJS provided editorial review.

This report is made possible through the cooperation of thefollowing Federal agencies and their staffs: The UnitedStates Marshals Service (USMS), the Administrative Officeof the United States Courts (AOUSC), the Executive Officefor U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), and the Federal Bureau ofPrisons (BOP). The staff who provided expert adviceabout the source records include: Joe Briggs (USMS);Steven Schlesinger and Catherine Whitaker (AOUSC);Siobhan Sperin and Barbara Tone (EOUSA); and GeraldGaes and Nancy Miller (BOP).

The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect theviews or policies of the Bureau of Justice Statistics or theU.S. Department of Justice.

BJS authorizes any person to reproduce, publish, translate,or otherwise use all or any part of the material in this publi-cation; citation to source, however, is appreciated.

An electronic version of this report and the data underlyinggraphics may be found on the BJS Internet Home Page(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/). The BJS-sponsored FederalJustice Statistics Resource Center (FJSRC) Internet HomePage (http://fjsrc.urban.org) provides online access to theFederal Justice database. Users may download data fromthe Federal Justice database for independent analysis oruse the online query system to quickly obtain customizedstatistics.

To order additional copies of this report or CD-ROMs con-taining the Federal Justice database, call the BJS Clearing-house at 1-800-732-3277.

ii Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1999

Highlights, 1

Introduction, 3

Federal criminal case processing,1999, 5

Tables and figures

Methodology, 17

The Federal justice database

Table construction and interpretation

Offense classifications

Classification level

Estimations

Statistics appearing in Federal CriminalCase Processing, 1999

Appendix, 25

Tables

Contents iii

Contents


October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999

1. Arrests for Federal offenses,by offense

2. Suspects in criminal matters inves-tigated by U.S. attorneys, by offense

3. Disposition of suspects in mattersconcluded by U.S. attorneys,by offense

4. Defendants in cases proceededagainst in U.S. district courts,by offense

5. Disposition of defendants in casesterminated in U.S. district courts,by offense

6. Sanctions imposed on offendersconvicted and sentenced in U.S.district courts, by offense

7. Criminal appeals filed, by type ofcriminal case and offense

8. Offenders under Federal supervi-sion, by offense

9. Federal prison admissions andreleases, by offense

Methodology, 17

M.1. Breakout of main category offenses

M.2. Source agencies for data tables inFederal Criminal Case Processing

Appendix, 25

A.1. Suspects in criminal matters inves-tigated by U.S. attorneys, byoffense, 1994-99

A.2. Suspects in criminal mattersconcluded by U.S. attorneys, byoffense, 1994-99

A.3. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. attorneys: Numberprosecuted before U.S. districtcourt judge, by offense, 1994-99

A.4. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. magistrates, byoffense, 1994-99

A.5. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. attorneys: Numberdeclined prosecution, by offense,1994-99

A.6. Defendants in cases proceededagainst in U.S. district courts, byoffense, 1994-99

A.7. Defendants in cases terminating inU.S. district courts, by offense,1994-99

A.8. Defendants in cases terminating inU.S. district courts: Percent con-victed, by offense, 1994-99

A.9. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts, by offense,1994-99

A.10. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts: Numbersentenced to prison, by offense,1994-99

A.11. Criminal appeals filed, by offense,1994-99

A.12. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts: Numbersentenced to probation only, by of-fense, 1994-99

A.13. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts: Mean num-ber of months of imprisonmentimposed, by offense, 1994-99

A.14. Offenders under Federal supervi-sion, by offense, 1994-99

A.15. Population at the end of the year inFederal prisons, by offense,1994-99

iv Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1999

Tables

Highlights, 1

Figure H.1. Federal criminal case proc-essing, October 1, 1998 -September 30, 1999

Figure H.2. Number of offenders underFederal correctional supervi-sion, September 30, 1999


Figure 1. Number of suspects incriminal matters investi-gated by U.S. attorneys, bycategory of offense, 1982-99

Figure 2. Number of defendants incriminal cases terminated inU.S. district court, by cate-gory of offense, 1982-99

Figure 3. Defendants convicted inU.S. district court: Percent-age sentenced to prison, bycategory of offense, 1982-99

Figure 4. Number of offenders underFederal supervision, by typeof supervision, 1987-99

Figure 5. U.S. district court commit-ments and first releasesfrom Federal prison, by ex-pected or actual time inprison, 1986-99

Contents v

Figures

w During 1999, 109,452 offenders were arrested by Fed-eral law enforcement agencies for possible violation ofFederal law. Almost 30% of all arrests were for drugoffenses, a fifth (21%) for immigration offenses, 15%for property offenses, 14% for supervision violations,4% for violent offenses, and about 4% to secure andsafeguard a material witness.

w During 1999, U.S. attorneys initiated investigations in-volving 117,994 suspects for possible violations ofFederal law. Almost a third (32%) of those investi-gated were suspected of a drug violation.

w Between 1994 and 1999, investigations initiated byU.S. attorneys have increased 18.9% — from 99,251to 117,994. Investigations for immigration violationsincreased from 5,526 to 15,539; for drug offenses,investigations increased from 29,311 to 37,313.

w During 1999, U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute asmaller proportion of those investigated, as declina-tions decreased from 36% of matters concludedduring 1994 to 27% during 1999.

w Criminal charges were filed against 80,031 defen-dants (felony and misdemeanor) in U.S. district courtsduring 1999 — a 28% increase since 1994.

w During 1999 criminal cases involving 75,723 defen-dants were concluded in U.S. district courts. Ofthese, 87% were convicted. Almost all (95%) of thoseconvicted pleaded guilty or no contest.

w Drug prosecutions have comprised an increasing pro-portion of the Federal criminal caseload — from 21%of defendants in cases terminating in U.S. districtcourt during 1982 to 36% during 1999.

w Since implementation of the Sentencing Reform Act of1984, the proportion of defendants sentenced to prisonincreased from 54% during 1988 to 72% during 1999.The proportion of drug offenders sentenced to prisonincreased from 79% to 92%.

w Prison sentences imposed increased from 55.1months during 1988 to 58.1 months during 1999. Fordrug offenses, prison sentences increased from 71.3months to 75.4 months; for weapon offenses, sen-tences imposed increased from 52.3 months to 99.5months.

w Time expected to be served increased from 26.9months for offenders admitted during 1988 to 44.8months for offenders admitted during 1999. For drugoffenses, the amount of time an incoming offendercould expect to serve increased from 39.3 months to61.8 months; for weapon offenses, expected timeserved increased from 32.4 months to 75.7 months.

w During 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals received 10,251criminal appeals. Forty-seven percent of these appealschallenged both the conviction and the sentenceimposed.

w During 1999, 96,502 offenders were under Federal com-munity supervision. Supervised release has become theprimary form of supervision in the Federal system: 61.8% of offenders were on supervised release comparedto 32.9% on probation, and 5.3% remaining on parole.

w On September 30, 1999, 119,185 offenders were servinga prison sentence in Federal prison; 57% were incarcer-ated for a drug offense; 11% for a violent offense; 8% fora weapon offense; 7% for a property offense, 8% for animmigration offense; and 9% for all other offenses.

Highlights 1

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000

Suspects investigated

Defendants prosecuted

Offenders convicted

Offenders sentencedto prison*

Criminal appeals filed

117,994

80,031

66,055

47,659

10,251

Federal criminal case processing, October 1, 1998 -September 30, 1999

Figure H.1.

Figure H.2.

*Prison includes offenders given life and death sentences, and includesnew law offenders given prison-community split sentences (prison andconditions of alternative community confinement). Also included areoffenders given mixed sentences of prison plus probation, applicableonly to offenders sentenced pursuant to laws applicable prior to theSentencing Reform Act of 1984.

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000

Prison

Supervised release

Probation

Parole

119,185

59,644

31,729

5,129

Number of offenders under Federal correctional supervision,September 30, 1999

Highlights

Federal Criminal Case Processing,1999, second in an annual series, pro-vides statistics that describe defen-dants processed at different stages ofthe Federal criminal justice system forthe 12-month period ending September30, 1999. Also included are figuresdescribing trends in Federal criminalcase processing during the 1982-99period.

The data presented are compiled fromthe BJS Federal justice database. TheFederal justice database is comprisedof data provided by the U.S. MarshalsService, the Executive Office for theU.S. Attorneys, the Administrative Of-fice of the U.S. Courts, the U.S. Sen-tencing Commission, and the FederalBureau of Prisons. The AdministrativeOffice of the U.S. Courts provides datadescribing the Federal court docket —criminal, civil, and appellate — as wellas pretrial services, probation, parole,and supervised release.

The Federal justice database may beobtained electronically from the Fed-eral Justice Statistics Resource Cen-ter website or on CD-ROM from theBJS Clearinghouse. For more detailedinformation on obtaining the Federaljustice database, see page ii.

Statistics presented in this report in-clude the number of suspects arrestedby Federal law enforcement agenciesfor violations of Federal law, the num-ber of suspects investigated by U.S.attorneys for possible violations of Fed-eral law, the outcome of U.S. attorneyinvestigations (prosecution or declina-tion), the number of defendants prose-cuted in U.S. district courts, the out-come of criminal cases (convicted, notconvicted), sanctions imposed on de-fendants convicted (type of sentenceimposed and length of imprisonment),the number and type of criminal ap-peals filed, and the number of offend-ers under Federal correctional supervi-sion — prison, probation, parole, andsupervised release. A related publica-tion, the Compendium of Federal Jus-tice Statistics, provides more detail onmany of the statistics presented in this

report — including statistics on up to40 offense categories and statistics onadditional case processing conceptssuch as pretrial release and demo-graphic characteristics of offenders.

Several case processing statistics pre-sented in this report have previouslybeen reported by the agencies. How-ever, because individual agencies usedifferent criteria to collect, tabulate,and report on case processing events,statistics published by each of theagencies may not be directly compara-ble. In this report, BJS has attemptedto reconcile differences in data collec-tion and reporting in order to presentcomparable statistics across stages ofthe Federal criminal justice system.For a description of the reconciliationeffort and the methodology employed,see Comparing Case Processing Sta-tistics (NCJ-169274) and ReconcilingFederal Criminal Case Processing Sta-tistics (NCJ-171680).

Since many terms and concepts usedin this report have specialized mean-ings — either because they refer tospecific provisions of Federal law orthey refer to procedures used by agen-cies supplying the data — readers areencouraged to reference the glossaryof the Compendium of Federal JusticeStatistics for definitions of concepts.

Modifications to Federal CriminalCase Processing, 1999

In Federal Criminal Case Processing,1999, a new detailed offense category,Nonviolent sex offenses, was intro-duced and is classified under thelarger Public-order offensescategory. Included in this new cate-gory are offenses such as pornographyand prostitution. Formerly, such of-fenses had been included under thedetailed offense category Other sexoffenses, which was classified underViolent offenses. Therefore, compari-sons between tables in this report andtables in the 1998 report must bemade with this reclassification in mind.

Introduction 3

Introduction

Federal criminal case processing, 1999

Federal criminal case processing, 1999 5

Tables

October 1, 1998 – September 30, 1999

1. Arrests for Federal offenses, by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2. Suspects in criminal matters investigatedby U.S. attorneys, by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3. Disposition of suspects in matters concludedby U.S. attorneys, by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4. Defendants in cases proceeded againstin U.S. district courts, by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5. Disposition of defendants in casesterminated in U.S. district courts, by offense . . . . . . . . . . 11

6. Sanctions imposed on offenders convictedand sentenced in U.S. district courts,by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

7. Criminal appeals filed, by type of criminalcase and offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

8. Offenders under Federal supervision,by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

9. Federal prison admissions and releases,by offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Figures

1. Number of suspects in criminal mattersinvestigated by U.S. attorneys, by categoryof offense, 1982-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2. Number of defendants in criminal casesterminated in U.S. district court, by categoryof offense, 1982-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3. Defendants convicted in U.S. district court: Percentage sentenced to prison, by categoryof offense, 1982-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4. Number of offenders under Federal super-vision, by type of supervision, 1987-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

5. U.S. district court commitments and first releasesfrom Federal prison, by expected or actual time inprison, 1986-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

cIn this table, "Violent offenses" may includenonnegligent manslaughter; "Fraudulent prop-erty" excludes tax fraud; "Other nonfraudu-lent property" excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property andtrespassing; and "Tax law violation" includestax fraud.

aPercent based on number whose offense cate-gory could be determined.bIncludes suspects whose offense categorycould not be determined. See Methodology fora listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.

50Unknown or indeterminable offense

3.74,008Material witness

14.315,651Supervision violations

7.17,831Other1.21,269Tax law violationc

20.922,837Immigration3.94,258Weapons

33.136,195Other0.7748Regulatory

33.836,943Public-order offenses

29.231,937Drug offenses

3.13,440Otherc12.113,187Fraudulentc15.216,627Property offenses

3.94,236Violent offensesc

100%109,452All offensesb

PercentaNumberMost serious offense

Table 1. Arrests for Federal offenses, by offense, October 1, 1998 -September 30, 1999


dIn this table, "Violent offenses" may includenonnegligent manslaughter; "Fraudulent prop-erty" excludes tax fraud; "Other nonfraudu-lent property" excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property andtrespass-ing; and "Tax law violation" includestax fraud.

aBased on the decision of the assistant U.S.attorney responsible for the matter.bPercent based on number whose offense cate-gory could be determined.cIncludes suspects whose offense categorycould not be determined. See Methodology fora listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.

1,565Unknown or indeterminable offenses

13.315,502Other0.8982Tax law violationd


33.539,005Other5.46,332Regulatory


32.037,313Drug offenses

3.33,811Otherd20.824,200Fraudulentd24.128,011Property offenses

5.05,768Violent offensesd

100%117,994All offensesc

PercentbNumber

Suspects in criminal matters received by U.S. attorneys

Most serious offense investigateda

Table 2. Suspects in criminal matters investigated by U.S. attorneys,by offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999

8 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1999

1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 19990

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

Property

Public-order

Drug

Violent

All offenses

Number of suspects

Public-order

Property

Drug

Violent

Number of suspects in criminal matters investigated by U.S. attorneys,by category of offense, 1982-99

Note: Data for 1982 through 1993 are estimated from calendar year data; see Methodology. Beginning in 1994,data are reported on the Federal fiscal year running from October 1 through September 30.

Figure 1

eIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined. SeeMethodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within each majoroffense category.fIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include nonnegligent manslaughter;"Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Other nonfraudulent property"excludes fraudulent property and includes destruction of property and tres-passing; and "Tax law violation" includes tax fraud.

aBased on the decision of the assistant U.S. attorney responsible for thematter.bIncludes suspects whose cases were filed in U.S. district court before adistrict court judge. cIncludes defendants in misdemeanor cases that were terminated in U.S.district court before a U.S. magistrate.dIncludes suspects whose matters were declined for prosecution by U.S.attorneys upon review.

24.929855.666519.52341,197Unknown or indeterminable offenses

30.94,33039.95,59429.24,09114,015Other35.34212.93561.87371,193Tax law violationf

3.147219.32,93577.611,79415,201Immigration28.01,6601.911070.14,1495,919Weapons18.96,88323.98,67457.220,77136,328Other63.33,6057.844528.91,6485,698Regulatory25.010,48821.79,11953.322,41942,026Public-order offenses

17.06,2615.82,13277.228,37236,765Drug offenses

37.01,38317.264345.81,7133,739Otherf43.010,5786.81,67850.112,31924,575Fraudulentf42.211,9618.22,32149.614,03228,314Property offenses

35.41,9965.530859.13,3275,631Violent offensesf

27.2%31,00412.8%14,54560.0%68,384113,933All offensesePercentNumberPercentNumberPercentNumberMost serious offense investigateda

Declined prosecutiondConcludedby U.S. magistratec

Prosecuted beforeU.S. district court judgeb

Totalnumber ofsuspects

Suspects in criminal matters concluded

Table 3. Disposition of suspects in matters concluded by U.S. attorneys, by offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


dIn this table, "Violent offenses" may in-clude nonnegligent manslaughter; "Fraudu-lent property" excludes tax fraud; "Othernonfraudulent property" excludes fraudulentproperty and includes destruction of prop-erty and trespassing; "Tax law violation" in-cludes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" in-clude misdemeanors, petty offenses, andunknown offense levels.

aBased on the offense carrying the most severestatutory maximum penalty.bPercent distribution based on the defendants forwhom an offense category could be determined.cIncludes defendants for whom an offense categorycould not be determined. See Methodology for a list-ing of detailed offense categories within each majoroffense category.

115Unknown or indeterminable offenses

15.612,474Misdemeanorsd

3.83,001Other0.8661Tax law violationd


23.919,136Other1.61,245Regulatory


2.52,010Possession and other34.227,296Trafficking36.729,306Drug offenses

3.42,751Otherd15.112,028Fraudulentd18.514,779Property offenses

3.72,976Violent offensesd

84.467,442Felonies

100%80,031All offensescPercentbNumber

Defendants in cases commencedMost serious offense chargeda

Table 4. Defendants in cases proceeded against in U.S. district courts,by offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


fIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include nonnegligent manslaughter;"Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Other nonfraudulent property"excludes fraudulent property and includes destruction of property andtrespassing; "Tax law violation" includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors"include misdemeanors, petty offenses, and unknown offense levels.

aBased on the offense carrying the most severe statutory maximum penalty.bIncludes nolo contendere.cIncludes bench and jury trials.dIncludes defendants in cases dismissed for lack of evidence or lack of Federalinterest.eIncludes defendants for whom an offense category could not be determined. SeeMethodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offensecategory.

313169667582.491Unknown or indeterminable

4713,2073,6783678,7489,11571.212,793Misdemeanorsf

453844291862,2812,46785.22,896Other423274056860895.7635Tax law violationf

27426453909,2169,30695.49,759Immigration703944643543,2693,62388.64,087Weapons

1461,2271,37367015,33416,00492.117,377Other36177213591,0341,09383.71,306Regulatory

1821,4041,58672916,36817,09791.518,683Public-order offenses

12135147961,4311,52791.21,674Possession and other2192,3672,5861,21221,53622,74889.825,334Trafficking2312,5022,7331,30822,96724,27589.927,008Drug offenses

282212491062,1132,21989.92,468Otherf1329621,09445410,03910,49390.611,587Fraudulentf1601,1831,34356012,15212,71290.414,055Property offenses

692433122632,5182,78189.93,093Violent offensesf

6425,3325,9742,86054,00556,86590.562,839Felonies

1,1168,5529,6683,23662,81966,05587.2%75,723All offensese

AcquittedcDismisseddTotalTrialcPleabTotal

Number not convictedNumber convictedPercentconvicted

Number of defendantsMost serious offense chargeda

Defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts

Table 5. Disposition of defendants in cases terminated in U.S. district courts, by offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 19990

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

Public-order

Property

Drug

Property

Public-order

Violent

Number of defendants

Drug

All offenses

Violent

Number of defendants in criminal cases terminated in U.S. district court,by category of offense, 1982-99

Note: Data for 1982 through 1993 are based on a 12-month calendar year reporting period ending December 31.Beginning in 1994, data are reported on the Federal fiscal year running from October 1 through September 30.Figure 2 displays data by major offense category, but does not show the felony/misdemeanor distinction.Therefore, the data points on the trend lines will not match the data in Appendix table A.7, nor will the 1999 datapoints match the data in table 5, above.

Figure 2

fCalculations exclude offenders given life or death sentences. For new lawoffenders given prison-community split sentences, imprisonment length in-cludes prison sentences only.gIncludes offenders for whom offense categories could not be determined orfor whom a sentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailedoffense categories within each major offense category.hIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include nonnegligent manslaughter;"Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Other nonfraudulent property"excludes fraudulent property and includes destruction of property and tres-passing; "Tax law violation" includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" includemisdemeanors, petty offenses, and unknown offense levels.

aBased on the disposition offense with the most severe sentence.bIncludes offenders given life and death sentences, and includes newlaw offenders given prison-community split sentences (prison and condi-tions of alternative community confinement).cIncludes offenders given mixed sentences of prison plus probation; ap-plicable only to offenders sentenced pursuant to laws applicable prior tothe Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.dIncludes offenders given probation plus conditions of confinement,such as home confinement or intermittent confinement.eIncludes offenders who had no sentence imposed, those with sealedsentences, and those who were deported.

36.562.2203813273Unknown or indeterminable offenses

4.010.87832,8734,879941,46210,118Misdemeanorsh

30.057.63919441292,0652,598Other12.020.14329916328653Tax law violationh27.030.747417409298,3989,357Immigration60.099.5362190853,1063,423Weapons30.049.7553411,33915913,89716,031Other15.026.3684566566211,410Regulatory30.048.7621862,00416514,51817,441Public-order offenses

60.083.43313153101,5671,778Possession and other48.074.85393298112719,99021,698Trafficking51.075.4572451,13413721,55723,476Drug offenses

18.033.04311831171,1202,029Otherh14.022.45991303,3401295,93810,203Fraudulenth15.024.16421414,1711467,05812,232Property offenses

60.088.1383182262,4632,715Violent offensesh

36.059.61,8732757,49147445,59655,864Felonies

33.0 mo58.1 mo2,6583,14812,40856947,09066,055All offensesg

MedianMeanFine onlyTotal OthereProbationdMixedsentencec

Imprison-mentbMost serious offense of convictiona

Months of imprison-ment imposedf

NumberOffenders convicted and sentenced

Table 6. Sanctions imposed on offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts, by offense,October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 19990%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%Percent of offenders

Public-order

Property

Drug

Violent

Public-order

Property

DrugViolent

All offenses

All offenses

Defendants convicted in U.S. district court: Percentage sentenced to prison,by category of offense, 1982-99

Note: Data for 1982 through 1993 are based on a 12-month calendar year reporting period ending December 31. Beginning in 1994, data are reported on the Federal fiscal year running from October 1 through September 30.Figure 3 displays data by major offense category, but does not show the felony/misdemeanor distinction. Sincetable 6 and Appendix tables A.9 and A.10 show felonies and misdemeanors separately, the percentages displayedin figure 3 cannot be calculated from numbers appearing in the tables.

Figure 3

cIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include nonnegligentmanslaughter; "Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Other non-fraudulent property" excludes fraudulent property and includes destruc-tion of property and trespassing; and "Tax law violation" includes taxfraud.

aBased on the disposition offense with the most severe sentence.bIncludes offenders for whom offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.


15299105147566135701Other0461415751691Tax law violationc150410829190430934Immigration

155371572259341361,070Weapons311,3863846782,4793172,796Other

174183813131162Regulatory321,4604027162,6103482,958Public-order offenses

572,1606311,0443,8926214,513Drug offenses

5198527733269401Otherc256421643121,1431951,338Fraudulentc308402163891,4752641,739Property offenses

82708011447287559Violent offensesc

1304,8391,3682,3798,7161,53510,251All offensesbOtherTotalTotal

Sentence andconviction

Convictiononly

SentenceonlyPreguidelineMost serious offense of convictiona

Guidelines-based appealsNumber of criminal appeals filed

Table 7. Criminal appeals filed, by type of criminal case and offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


dIncludes 289 total offenders, 195 offenders under probation, 2 un-der parole, and 92 under supervised release whose felony offensecategory could not be determined. eIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include nonnegligent man-slaughter; "Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Other non-fraudulent property" excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespassing; "Tax law violation" includestax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, petty of-fenses, and unknown offense levels.

aIncludes offenders under active supervision at the close of the fiscalyear. This population includes offenders under the three major forms ofsupervision: probation, supervised release, and parole. Included underparole are two less common types of old law release: mandatory releaseand special parole. Excluded from the number of offenders under activesupervision reported in the table are offenders released to military paroleand offenders under community supervision prior to sentencing (such asduring pretrial release or pretrial investigation).bBased on the offense with the longest sentence imposed.cIncludes offenders for whom offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.

0.95330.2832.410,20210,743Misdemeanorse

4.32,5365.72924.71,4914,319Other1.16650.5263.31,0421,733Tax law violatione1.16570.142.16731,334Immigration5.63,3643.31711.95884,123Weapons

12.17,2229.649312.03,79411,509Other1.59130.6334.41,3852,331Regulatory

13.78,13510.352616.45,17913,840Public-order offenses

5.93,5004.72421.34134,155Possession and other47.528,29047.22,4209.73,06433,774Trafficking53.431,79051.92,66211.03,47737,929Drug offenses

3.92,3174.22157.42,3494,881Othere22.513,4016.533330.69,64723,381Fraudulente26.415,71810.754838.011,99628,262Property offenses

5.73,37627.01,3832.26805,439Violent offensese

99.359,11199.95,12168.321,52785,759Feloniesd

100%59,644100%5,129100%31,72996,502All offensesc

PercentNumberPercentNumberPercentNumberNumberSupervised releaseParoleProbationTotal

Most serious offense of convictionb

Post-incarceration supervisionOffenders under active supervisiona

Table 8. Offenders under Federal supervision, by offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 19990

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

Probation

Parole

Number of defendants

Supervised release

Number of offenders under Federal supervision, by type of supervision, 1987-99

Note: Data for 1987 through 1994 are based on a count of the supervised population as of June 30. Beginningin 1995, data are based on a count as of September 30.

Figure 4

fIncludes prisoners for whom an offense category could not bedetermined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offensecategories within each major offense category.gIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include nonnegligentmanslaughter; "Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Othernonfraudulent property" excludes fraudulent property and in-cludes destruction of property and trespassing; and "Tax law vio-lation" includes tax fraud.

aBased on the offense having the longest sentence.bOffenders committed from U.S. district courts.cIncludes other commitments, such as offenders committed from other courts and viola-tors of conditions of supervised release.dIncludes prisoners released for the first time from a U.S. district court commitment.eIncludes prisoners released from commitments other than a first release from a U.S. dis-trict court commitment.

3052,3323364144356202,027Unknown or indeterminable

7115,4281,2542,0191,4892,4954,717Other-6233010835087309392Tax law violationg

3,00610,1567758,0761,00910,8487,150Immigration7939,4949041,8471,0172,5278,701Weapons

4,44825,4083,04112,2923,60216,17920,960Other-391,0482386942366571,087Regulatory

4,40926,4563,27912,9863,83816,83622,047Public-order offenses

77525504184541224448Possession and other5,84567,8354,33715,5534,96820,76761,990Trafficking5,92268,3604,84115,7375,50920,99162,438Drug offenses

692,1291,4521,1161,5621,0752,060Otherg1296,5532,3635,4602,4255,5276,424Fraudulentg1988,6823,8156,5763,9876,6028,484Property offenses

68013,3552,5291,9592,8262,34212,675Violent offensesg

11,514119,18514,80037,67216,59547,391107,671All offensesf

Net changeAll othereDistrict courtdAll othercDistrict courtbPopulation atend of year

Prisoners releasedPrisoners admittedPopulation atstart of year

Most serious original offense ofconvictiona

Table 9. Federal prison admissions and releases, by offense, October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999


Figure 5

1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19980

10

20

30

40

50

60Number of months

Expected time to be servedfor offenders committedto prison

Average time served by offenders released from prison

U.S. district court commitments and first releases from Federal prison,by expected or actual time in prison, 1986-99

The Federal justice database

Source of dataThe source of data for all tables in Fed-eral Criminal Case Processing is theBureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Fed-eral justice database. The database ispresently constructed from source filesprovided by the U.S. Marshals Service(USMS), Executive Office for U.S. At-torneys (EOUSA), the AdministrativeOffice of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC),and the Federal Bureau of Prisons(BOP). AOUSC also maintains thedata collected by the U.S. Court of Ap-peals and the Federal Probation andSupervision Information System(FPSIS). Federal law prohibits the useof these files for any purpose otherthan research or statistics. A descrip-tion of the source agency data files isprovided in table M.2 at the end of thissection.

Data universeThe universe of the BJS Federal justicedatabase includes criminal suspectsinvestigated for violations of Federalcriminal law, criminal suspects ar-rested for violations of Federal criminallaw, defendants in cases filed in U.S.district courts, and offenders enteringFederal corrections and correctionalsupervision.

The universe of criminal suspects ar-rested is all suspects arrested by theFederal law enforcement agencies (in-cluding the USMS), state agencies,and self-reported arrests and trans-ferred to the custody of the U.S. Mar-shals Service for processing, transpor-tation, and detention.

The universe of criminal suspects islimited to those whose matters wereinvestigated by U.S. attorneys and inwhich the investigation took at leastone hour of a U.S. attorney’s time.

The universe of defendants in Federalcriminal courts is limited to those de-fendants whose cases were filed in aU.S. district court, whether before aU.S. district court judge or a U.S.magistrate. This includes all felony

defendants, Class A misdemeanantdefendants, and those defendantscharged with petty offenses and han-dled by a U.S. district court judge.

The universe of offenders includes allsentenced offenders entering Federalprison regardless of the source of theircommitment (e.g., U.S. district court,State court, or military court, or returnfrom a violation of conditions of supervi-sion) or length of sentence. This mayinclude some offenders who were con-victed of immigration offenses whowere committed for petty offenses.

The universe of supervised offenders in-cludes persons entering and exitingterms of Federal supervision, and per-sons under Federal supervision duringthe fiscal year. Supervision types in-clude probation, parole, and supervisedrelease. Included amongst parole su-pervisees are those under two lesscommon types of "old law" supervision(sentenced prior to the implementationof the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984): mandatory release and specialrelease.

The universe of suspects, defendants,and offenders varies from table to tablein this report, depending on the defini-tion of the statistic reported and thesource of the data.

Reporting periodWherever possible, matters or caseshave been selected according to someevent which occurred during fiscal year1999 (October 1, 1998, through Sep-tember 30, 1999). Some data filesprovided by source agencies are or-ganized according to a calendar yeartime frame; these have been combinedand divided into fiscal years for pur-poses of this report. Files which areorganized by their source agencies ac-cording to fiscal year nonetheless in-clude some pertinent records in lateryears' files. For example, tabulationsof suspects in matters concluded dur-ing fiscal year 1999 have been assem-bled from source files containing re-cords of 1999 matters concludedwhich were entered into the data

system during fiscal years 1998 or1999.

In the figures showing trends in Fed-eral criminal case processing, informa-tion is presented for a period between1982 and 1999. Data from the EOUSAare estimated from 1982 through1993, as data prior to 1993 includedappeals information not included in thesubsequent years. Because ofchanges in the reporting and collectionof data over time, data collected priorto 1994 from AOUSC and EOUSAwere reported on a calendar-yearbasis; data collected from 1994-1999are on a fiscal-year basis. The figuresare marked and noted according to theperiod of measurement. In figure 4,data collected from FPSIS reflect thesupervised population as of June 30 forthe period of 1987-1994, and the popu-lation as of September 30 for the pe-riod of 1995-1999. In figure 5, data col-lected from BOP, presented from1985-1999, are reported on a fiscal-year basis.

Table construction andinterpretation

Universe in each tableThe universe in table 1 is suspects ar-rested for violations of Federal criminallaw and transferred to the custody ofthe U.S. Marshals Service.

The universe in tables 2 and 3, and fig-ure 1 is suspects in criminal mattersinvestigated by U.S. attorneys. A per-son appearing in multiple matters willbe counted separately for each matter.Matters include criminal proceedingshandled exclusively by U.S. attorneys,or in which U.S. attorneys provided as-sistance and spent at least one hour oftime.

The universe in tables 4, 5, and 6, aswell as figures 2 and 3, is defendantsadjudicated and sentenced in U.S. dis-trict court. Included are defendantscharged with felonies, Class A and Bmisdemeanors, and petty offenses ifthe petty offenses are handled by U.S.district court judges. Defendants who

Methodology 17

Methodology

appear in more than one case arecounted separately for each distinctcase in which they appear. Defen-dants may have been charged under"old law" (pre-Sentencing Reform Act)or "new law" (post-Sentencing ReformAct) standards.

The universe in table 7 is criminal ap-peals filed in the U.S. Court ofAppeals. Appeals filed include bothPreguidelines- and Guidelines-basedappeals. The Sentencing Reform Actallowed for the appeal of sentences im-posed, where previously only the con-viction could be appealed.

The universe in table 8 and figure 4 isoffenders entering, exiting, or under ac-tive supervision. Active supervision in-cludes supervisees who report regu-larly to their supervising officers. Ex-cluded are offenders released to mili-tary parole and offenders who are un-der community release prior tosentencing.

The universe in table 9 and figure 5 issentenced Federal offenders commit-ted into Federal prison facilities — re-gardless of the court from which theywere committed and regardless of thelength of sentence. This includes pri-marily offenders committed from U.S.district courts by U.S. district courtjudges, but also includes those com-mitted by U.S. magistrates, militarycourts, and some State courts. In ad-dition, it includes offenders who vio-lated conditions of supervised releaseand who were returned to prison fortheir violations rather than from a courtcommitment.

Unit of analysisThe unit of analysis in tables 1 through7 is a combination of a person (or cor-poration) and a matter or case. Forexample, if a single person is involvedin three different criminal cases duringthe time period specified in the table,he or she is counted three times in thetabulation. Similarly, if a single crimi-nal case involves a corporate defen-dant and four individual defendants, itcounts five times in the tabulation.

In tables 8 and 9, the unit of analysisfor incarceration, probation, parole, orother supervised release is a personentering custody or supervision, or aperson leaving custody or supervision.For example, a person convicted intwo concurrent cases and committedonce to the custody of the BOP in theindicated time period is counted asone admission to a term of incarcera-tion. A person who leaves a BOP fa-cility, reenters, and leaves again in thesame fiscal-year period would becounted as one admission and two re-leases. A person who terminates pro-bation twice in the indicated time pe-riod, such as with a violation and againafter reinstatement, is counted as twoterminations of probation.

InterpretationThe data presented in this report are astatistical presentation of offendersprocessed in the Federal criminal jus-tice system. The tables presented de-scribe the number of offenders proc-essed and the outcome of that proc-essing at each stage of the Federalcriminal justice system. Becausemany tables represent different cross-sections of offenders, comparisonsacross tables are not necessarily valid.

Offense classifications

ProcedureThe offense classification procedureused in this report is based on theclassification system followed by theAOUSC. Specific offenses in theAOUSC classification are combined toform the BJS categories shown in thisreport’s tables.*

For data from USMS (table 1) offensecategories are based on the FBI’s Na-tional Crime Information Center (NCIC)offense classifications, which are con-verted into U.S. Marshals’ four digit of-fense codes. These offense codes are

then aggregated into the offense cate-gories shown in table 1.

For data from EOUSA (tables 2 and 3,figure 1), which include U.S. Code cita-tions but do not include the AOUSC of-fense classifications, U.S. Code titlesand sections are translated into theAOUSC classification system andthen aggregated into the offense cate-gories used in the tables. Offensecategories for prisoners in table 9 arebased on combinations of offense des-ignations used by BOP. They aresimilar to the categories in othertables, but may not be directlycomparable.

Felony/misdemeanor distinctionsFelony and misdemeanor distinctionsare provided where possible. Felonyoffenses are those with a maximumpenalty of more than 1 year in prison.Misdemeanor offenses are those witha maximum penalty of 1 year or less.Felonies and misdemeanors are furtherclassified using the maximum term ofimprisonment authorized. Section3559, U.S. Code, Title 18 classifies of-fenses according to the followingschedule:

FeloniesClass A felony — life imprisonment,or if the maximum penalty is death.

Class B felony — 25 years or more.

Class C felony — less than 25 yearsbut more than 10 years.

Class D felony — less than 10 yearsbut more than 5 years.

Class E felony — less than 5 yearsbut more than 1 year.

MisdemeanorsClass A misdemeanor — 1 year orless but more than 1 month.

Class B misdemeanor — 6 monthsor less but more than 30 days.

Class C misdemeanor — 30 days orless but more than 5 days.


*These categories correspond to the BJScrime definitions and, to the extent possi-ble, are organized and presented consis-tent with BJS publications on State crimi-nal justice systems.

Infraction — 5 days or less, or if noimprisonment is authorized.

In this report, felony and misdemeanordistinctions are provided where thedata permit these distinctions. Tables1, 2, and 3 do not use this distinctionbecause many suspects cannot be soclassified at the investigation stage inthe criminal justice process. Table 7does not use this distinction becausethe Court of Appeals data do not allowfor such a breakout. Table 9 does notuse this distinction because BOP of-fense categories do not allow for sucha breakout. None of the figures show-ing trend data report this distribution.

Figures 2 and 3 display data by majoroffense category but do not show thefelony/misdemeanor distinction.Therefore, the data points for major of-fense categories represented on thetrend lines will not match the data inAppendix tables A.7, A.9, and A.10,respectively, nor will the 1999 datapoints match the data for major offensecategories in tables 5 and 6.

Classification level

Offenses in the tables in this report areclassified, at the most general level,into felony and misdemeanor catego-ries. Felonies are then broken out byfour main level offense classifications: violent, property, drug, and public-orderoffenses. Property and public-order of-fenses are broken out into two

sublevels. The main-level and sub-group categories are composed of indi-vidual offense types. Where the datasource allows, drug offenses are bro-ken out into the individual offense level.“Other public-order offenses” include alimited breakout at the individual of-fense type level. Table M.1 shows alist of specific offenses under each of-fense category.

Offense categoriesFor offenses referred to in table M.1,the following conditions apply:

"Murder" includes nonnegligentmanslaughter.

"Sexual abuse" includes only violentsex offenses. Nonviolent sex offenses,such as prostitution, are included in aseparate category, “Nonviolent sexoffenses.” Including nonviolent sexoffenses in a separate category is achange from previous years’ reportsand therefore the 1999 tables are notdirectly comparable with the appendixtables in this report, or with older edi-tions of this report.

"Fraud" excludes tax fraud.

"Larceny" excludes transportation ofstolen property.

"Other property felonies" excludesfraudulent property offenses, and in-cludes destruction of property andtrespass.

"Tax law violations" includes taxfraud.

"Obscene material" denotes the mailor transport thereof.

"All other felonies" includes felonieswith unclassifiable offense type.

"Misdemeanors" includes misde-meanors, petty offenses, and unknownoffense levels.

"Drug possession" also includes otherdrug misdemeanors.

Most serious offense selectionWhere more than one offense ischarged or adjudicated, the most seri-ous offense (the one that may or didresult in the most severe sentence) isused to classify offenses. The offensedescription may change as the crimi-nal justice process proceeds. Tablesindicate whether investigated, charged,or adjudicated offenses are used.

In tables 2 and 3, the most serious of-fense is based on the criminal leadcharge as determined by the assistantU.S. attorney responsible for the crimi-nal proceeding.

In tables 4 and 5, the most serious of-fense charged is the one that has themost severe potential sentence.

For table 6, conviction offenses arebased on the disposition offenses hav-ing the most severe penalty.

Methodology 19

Larceny

Drug possession

Immigration

Traffic offense

Other misdemeanors

Fraudulent property

Weapons

Immigrationoffenses

Tax law violations

Bribery

Perjury, contempt,and intimidation

National defense

Racketeering/extortion

Gambling

Nonviolent sexoffenses

Agriculture

Antitrust

Food and drug

Transportation

Civil rights

Communications

Custom laws

Postal laws

Other regulatoryoffenses

Trafficking

Possession

Other drug offenses

Burglary

Larceny

Motor vehicle theft

Arson andexplosives

Transportation ofstolen property

Other propertyoffenses

Embezzlement

Fraud

Forgery

Counterfeiting

Murder

Negligentmanslaughter

Assault

Robbery

Sexual abuse

Kidnaping

Threats against thePresident

MisdemeanorsOtherRegulatoryDrug offensesOtherFraudulentViolent offensesPublic-order offensesProperty offenses

Felonies

Table M.1. Breakout of main category offenses

In table 7, an offense is classified intothe category that represents the under-lying offense of conviction, based onthe disposition offense with the mostsevere sentence.

In table 8, the most serious offense ofconviction is either the one having thelongest sentence imposed or, if equalsentences were imposed or there wasno imprisonment, it was the offensecarrying the highest severity code asdetermined by AOUSC’s offense sever-ity code ranking.

In table 9, prisoners are classified ac-cording to the offense which bears thelongest single incarceration sentence.

Estimations

Several methods were used to esti-mate the trend data in this report.

Estimated number of suspectsin criminal mattersBecause of a change in the reportingprotocol for information received fromthe EOUSA effective with fiscal year1994 data, it was necessary to esti-mate certain statistics for years 1982-1993. Prior to 1994, reports of thenumber of suspects in criminal mattersincluded appellants in Federal criminalappeals. Because full-source agencydata prior to 1994 could not be ac-cessed, an estimation procedure wasused to estimate the number of appel-lants within main offense categoriesand then subtract them from the num-ber of suspects in criminal matterswhich included appellants. The proce-dure is described in the followingparagraphs.

The objective was to estimate thenumber of appellants included in re-ports of the number of suspects incriminal matters. This is denoted be-low as AEO.

Using existing data on appellants de-rived from alternative sources, such asAOUSC reports, an estimator was de-veloped based on the assumption thatthe ratio of appellants to defendantsplus appellants in the EOUSA data

was equal to the observed ratio of ap-pellants to appellants plus defendantsin the AOUSC data, or:

AAO

(AAO+DAO)=

AEO

(AEO+DEO)

where:

AAO = number of AO appellants

DAO = number of AO defendants

AEO = number of EO appellants

DEO = number of EO defendants

Solving for AEO yields:

=AEO

AAO

(AAO+DAO)x (AEO+DEO)

Solving for AEO yields the estimatorabove. This estimator was used toproduce estimates each year between1982 and 1993 using data from theseyears. The estimated number of ap-pellants in suspects in criminal mat-ters was subtracted from the reportednumber to derive the estimated numberof suspects in criminal matters. Thesewere used in figure 1. These esti-mates were done at the level of offensecategory (violent, property, drugs, andpublic-order).

Estimated expected time to beserved for offenders enteringprisonThe methodology for estimating ex-pected time to be served to first re-lease for prisoners entering the BOPsystem from a district court commit-ment involves grouping prisoners bytheir fiscal year of entry. Once thisgrouping has occurred, each prisoneris classified into one of the followingcategories:

a) a prisoner who has been releasedby the end of the observation win-dow (1985-99);

b) a prisoner still incarcerated at theend of the observation window whowas sentenced prior to the passageof the Sentencing Reform Act of1984 (an "old law" prisoner);

c) a prisoner still incarcerated at theend of the observation window who

was sentenced after to the passageof the Sentencing Reform Act (a"new law" prisoner).

For prisoners in category (a) actualtime served is recorded. For thoseprisoners in category (b), an estimateof time to be served is used, based onthe mean time served by similar pris-oners in previous entering years (1985-98). For prisoners in category (c) sen-tenced to more than 1 year, time to beserved is 87% of the sentence im-posed, which is the minimum sen-tence to be served under the Sentenc-ing Reform Act. For prisoners in cate-gory (c) sentenced to 1 year or less,time to be served is equal to the sen-tence imposed.

Statistics appearing in FederalCriminal Case Processing, 1999

The statistics appearing in this reportare as follows:

Table 1. Suspects arrested This is the number of suspects ar-rested by Federal law enforcementagencies for violations of Federal lawand transferred to the custody of theU.S. Marshals Service for booking andpretrial detention. Not included aresuspects arrested by Federal agenciesand transferred directly to the custodyof a State prosecutor.

Table 2. Suspects in mattersinvestigated by U.S. attorneysThis is the number of suspects incriminal matters whom U.S. attorneysspent at least one hour investigating.It excludes suspects whose matterswere immediately declined or whosematters were received via transfer fromanother district. An immediate decli-nation is one in which a U.S. attorneydeclines to prosecute a criminal matterwithout investigating the matter. Sus-pects may include persons, corpora-tions, or other legal entities. Mattersare limited to criminal matters investi-gated by U.S. attorneys or matters inwhich U.S. attorneys assisted in theinvestigation. Suspects appearing in


more than one matter are countedseparately for each matter.

Table 3. Suspects in mattersconcluded by U.S. attorneysThis is the number of suspects incriminal matters concluded by U.S. at-torneys, regardless of the year inwhich the criminal matter was opened.A matter is defined as concluded whena U.S. attorney files a case in a U.S.district court before a U.S. districtcourt judge, when a U.S. attorney de-clines to prosecute the matter, orwhen a misdemeanor case is con-cluded before a U.S. magistrate. Thetable excludes suspects whose matterwas declined immediately or whosematter was concluded by transfer.Suspects in matters concluded mayinclude persons, corporations, or otherlegal entities and are limited to thesuspects investigated or prosecutedby U.S. attorneys, or in which U.S. at-torneys assisted in the investigation orprosecution. Suspects appearing inmore than one matter are countedseparately for each matter.

Table 4. Defendants in casescommencedThis is the number of defendants incases proceeded in U.S. district court,either before a U.S. district court judgeor a U.S. magistrate. Proceedings areinitiated on or after the date a case isfiled in a U.S. district court. Includedin the count are defendants in caseshandled by U.S. district court judgesplus Class A misdemeanors, whetherhandled by a U.S. district court judgeor a U.S. magistrate. Also includedare defendants in cases involving pettyoffenses (Class B or C misdemeanors)if they were handled by U.S. districtcourt judges. These cases includedall cases commenced regardless ofthe source of prosecution — U.S. at-torneys or Department of Justice. Ex-cluded from this count are defendantswhose cases were opened by transferfrom another district (e.g., a Rule 20 orRule 40 transfer). Defendants appear-ing in more than one case are countedseparately in each case.

Table 5. Defendants in casesterminatedThis is the number of defendantswhose cases were terminated in U.S.district court. A case is terminated if adefendant is found not guilty, thecharges are dismissed, or when a de-fendant is sentenced, if he or she wasconvicted. Included in the count aredefendants in cases handled by U.S.district court judges plus Class A mis-demeanors, whether handled by a U.S.district court judge or a U.S. magis-trate. Also included are defendants incases involving petty offenses (Class Bor C misdemeanors) if they were han-dled by U.S. district court judges.These cases included all cases com-menced regardless of the source ofprosecution — U.S. attorneys or De-partment of Justice. Excluded fromthis count are defendants whosecases were opened by transfer fromanother district (e.g., a Rule 20 or Rule40 transfer). Defendants appearing inmore than one case are counted sepa-rately in each case.

Defendants are classified as convictedif they pleaded guilty, nolo contendere,or if they are found guilty at trial. De-fendants convicted by trial includedthose found guilty by reason of insan-ity. Defendants not convicted includesdefendants whose cases were dis-missed and those who were acquittedor found not guilty at trial.

Table 6. Defendants sentencedThis is the number of defendants sen-tenced in U.S. district court. Includedare defendants sentenced in caseshandled by U.S. district court judgesplus Class A misdemeanors, whetherhandled by a U.S. district court judgeor a U.S. magistrate. Also includedare defendants sentenced for petty of-fenses (Class B or C misdemeanors) ifthey were handled by U.S. districtcourt judges. These cases includedall cases commenced regardless ofthe source of prosecution — U.S. at-torneys or Department of Justice. Ex-cluded from this count are defendantswhose cases were opened by transfer

from another district (e.g., a Rule 20 orRule 40 transfer). Defendants appear-ing in more than one case are countedseparately in each case.

The sanctions shown in table 5 includeimprisonment only, mixed sentencesof prison plus supervision, probation,and fine only. Imprisonment is limitedto defendants receiving terms of im-prisonment but no probation, includinglife and death sentences, but exclud-ing suspended sentences or sen-tences to fewer than 4 days. New lawoffenders receiving prison-communitysplit sentences (prison and conditionsof alternative community confinement)are also included. Mixed sentencesinclude defendants given sentences ofboth prison and probation (applies tooffenders sentenced under "old law"standards only). Probation includesdefendants given sentences of proba-tion. Defendants who received proba-tion plus conditions of confinementsuch as intermittent confinement,home detention, or community confine-ment are classified under probation.Fine only includes defendants who re-ceived only a fine. Other sentences in-clude sealed sentences, prison sen-tences of 4 days or less, deportations,and cases in which the defendant wasconvicted but not given a sentence.The statistics on mean and medianprison sentences are based on thenumber given prison exclusive of lifeand death sentences. For offendersgiven prison-community split sen-tences, only the prison sentencelength is included in the calculation.

Table 7. Criminal appeals filedThis table reports the number of crimi-nal appeals filed in the U.S. Court ofAppeals. Prior to implementation ofthe Sentencing Reform Act of 1984,only criminal convictions could be ap-pealed. However, the Sentencing Re-form Act provided for the appellate re-view of sentences imposed given thatthe sentence was (1) imposed in viola-tion of the law; (2) imposed as the re-sult of an incorrect sentencing guide-line application; (3) outside the

Methodology 21

recommended guideline sentencingrange; or (4) imposed for an offense forwhich no sentencing guideline existsand is plainly unreasonable. Both thedefendant and the Government havethe right to appeal an imposed sen-tence (18 U.S.C. § 3742).

Table 8. Offenders underFederal supervisionThis table reports the number of offend-ers under active supervision at theclose of the fiscal year. It includes of-fenders under three forms of supervi-sion: probation, supervised release,and parole. Included in parole supervi-sees are those under two less com-mon types of "old law" (sentencedprior to the implementation of the Sen-tencing Reform Act of 1984), manda-tory release and special release. Theunit of analysis is a unique person re-leased on supervision.

Table 9. PrisonersThis table reports the number of sen-tenced Federal offenders committedinto the custody of the BOP, releasedfrom this custody, or in Federal prison."Into the custody of" includes prison-ers in BOP facilities plus contract fa-cilities. Contract facilities generallyhouse offenders prior to release fromprison. Sentenced offenders includefelony, misdemeanor, and petty offend-ers sentenced to prison regardless ofthe judge — U.S. district court judgeor U.S. magistrate — who sentencedthe offender. The unit of analysis is aunique person in Federal prison. Theunit of count for prisoner movements isbased on admissions and releasesinto and from Federal prison. A uniqueperson may appear more than once ina column showing admissions and re-leases if that person was admitted orreleased from Federal prison morethan once during the reporting period.

Included in the counts of district courtcommitments are offenders sentencedfrom district courts. This includessome offenders sentenced by U.S.magistrates. Other admissions in-clude offenders committed from other

courts and offenders returning to prisonfor violations of conditions of super-vised release. A first release is de-fined as a release from a district courtcommitment. Other releases includereleases of offenders who were servingterms for violating conditions of super-vised release — offenders who werecommitted on other than a districtcourt commitment.


Table 9

Appendix table A.15

The data extracts contain information on all offenders released fromprison over a specific period of time plus information about the offend-ers in prison when the data extracts are made. The information cov-ers the time that offenders enter prison until their release from the ju-risdiction of the BOP.

Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Extract fromBOP’s online Sentry System

Table 8

Appendix table A.14

Contains information about supervisions provided by probation offi-cers for persons placed on probation or supervised release fromprison. The files contain records of individuals entering, or currentlyon supervision, as well as records of offenders terminatingsupervision.

AOUSC — Federal Probation andSupervision Information System(FPSIS)

Table 7

Appendix table A.11

Contains information on criminal appeals filed and terminated in U.S courts of appeals. Records of appeals filed, pending, or terminatedinclude information on the nature of the criminal appeal, the underlyingoffense, and the disposition of the appeal.

AOUSC: Court of Appeals

Tables 4, 5, 6

Appendix tables A.6, A.7,A.8, A.9, A.10, A.12, A.13

Contains information about the criminal proceedings against defen-dants whose cases were filed in U.S. district courts. Includes infor-mation on felony defendants, Class A misdemeanants — whetherhandled by U.S. district court judges or U.S. magistrates — and othermisdemeanants provided they were handled by U.S. district courtjudges. The information in the data files cover criminal proceedingsfrom case filing through disposition and sentencing. Data are avail-able on criminal defendants in cases filed, pending, and terminated.

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

(AOUSC) — Criminal Termination Files

Tables 2, 3

Appendix tables A.1, A.2,A.3, A.4, A.5

Contains information on the investigation and prosecution of suspectsin criminal matters received and concluded, criminal cases filed andterminated, and criminal appeals filed and handled by U.S. attorneys.The central system files contain defendant-level records about theprocessing of matters and cases; the central charge files contain therecords of the charges filed and disposed in criminal cases. Data areavailable on matters and cases filed, pending, and terminated.

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys(EOUSA) — Central System andCentral Charge Files

Table 1Contains information about the arrests made by Federal law enforce-ment agencies (including the USMS), State agencies, and self-reported arrests. The Prisoner Tracking System contains informationon offenders transferred to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Servicefor processing, transportation, and detention.

United States Marshals Service(USMS) — Prisoner Tracking System

TablesDescription of data files contentsData source agency — data files

Table M.2. Source agencies for data tables in Federal Criminal Case Processing

Methodology 23

Appendix

Appendix 25

Tables

A.1. Suspects in criminal matters investigatedby U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

A.2. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

A.3. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. attorneys: Number prosecutedbefore U.S. district court judge, by offense,1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

A.4. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. magistrates, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

A.5. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. attorneys: Number declinedprosecution, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

A.6. Defendants in cases proceeded againstin U.S. district courts, by offense,1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

A.7. Defendants in cases terminating inU.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

A.8. Defendants in cases terminating inU.S. district courts: Percent convicted,by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

A.9. Offenders convicted and sentenced inU.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

A.10. Offenders convicted and sentenced inU.S. district courts: Number sentencedto prison, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

A.11. Criminal appeals filed, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . 32

A.12. Offenders convicted and sentenced inU.S. district courts: Number sentencedto probation only, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

A.13. Offenders convicted and sentenced inU.S. district courts: Mean number of monthsof imprisonment imposed, by offense,1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

A.14. Offenders under Federal supervision,by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

A.15. Population at the end of the year inFederal prisons, by offense, 1994-99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligent man-slaughter; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespassing; and “Tax law violation” includestax fraud.

Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision of the assistantU.S. attorney responsible for the matter.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses”to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodol-ogy for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.

1,5651,4201,6441,5151,3871,126Unknown or indeterminable offenses

15,50213,52916,03112,33612,31712,611Other9821,1741,4031,4281,3481,473Tax law violationc

15,53914,1149,3667,1227,2565,526Immigration6,9824,9074,8704,4625,3765,996Weapons

39,00533,72431,67025,34826,29725,606Other6,3326,5415,4235,1545,3715,059Regulatory

45,33740,26537,09330,50231,66830,665Public-order offenses

37,31336,35534,02730,22731,68629,311Drug offenses

3,8113,7974,0623,7173,9234,088Otherc24,20026,32825,85425,24527,83628,491Fraudulentc28,01130,12529,91628,96231,75932,579Property offenses

5,7687,5277,3546,5705,7205,570Violent offensesc

117,994115,692110,03497,776102,22099,251All offensesb1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense investigated

Table A.1. Suspects in criminal matters investigated by U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-99


Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision of the assistantU.S. attorney responsible for the matter.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses”to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodol-ogy for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.

1,1971,0551,3021,039900588Unknown or indeterminable offenses

14,01512,20811,53111,71411,87611,845Other1,1931,0241,3491,4031,3291,478Tax law violationc




36,76533,99132,07230,70831,26127,697Drug offenses



113,933106,02299,45998,454102,30994,980All offensesb

1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense investigated

Table A.2. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-99

Appendix 27


Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision of the assistantU.S. attorney responsible for the matter. Number of suspects includes suspectswhose cases were filed in U.S. district court before a district court judge.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses”to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodol-ogy for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.


4,0913,6984,0804,9514,3564,361Other737661897862881927Tax law violationc




28,37226,26624,40021,54821,44519,427Drug offenses




Table A.3. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. attorneys: Number prosecuted before U.S. district courtjudge, by offense, 1994-99


Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision of the assistantU.S. attorney responsible for the matter. Number of suspects includes defendants inmisdemeanor cases which were terminated in U.S. district court before a U.S.magistrate.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses”to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodol-ogy for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.



2,9352,3741,2297751,9892,217Immigration110116153137190189Weapons

8,6747,3095,2833,8535,4695,640Other445386266275224198Regulatory


2,1321,5611,9032,2622,4561,821Drug offenses

643520284260300245Otherc1,6781,6511,6351,5111,7431,536Fraudulentc2,3212,1711,9191,7712,0431,781Property offenses


14,54512,24310,0078,68410,7109,754All offensesb

1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense investigated

Table A.4. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. magistrates, by offense, 1994-99



Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision of the assistantU.S. attorney responsible for the matter. Number of suspects includes suspectswhose matters were declined for prosecution by U.S. attorneys upon review.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses”to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodol-ogy for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.


4,3303,7153,5873,8544,2594,299Other421339415509419502Tax law violationc472370302324366293Immigration

1,6601,2791,3011,6011,7841,982Weapons6,8835,7035,6056,2886,8287,076Other3,6053,4702,9843,1723,5313,495Regulatory


6,2616,1645,7696,8987,3606,449Drug offenses




Table A.5. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. attorneys: Number declined prosecution, by offense,1994-99

Appendix 29

cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligent manslaughter; “Fraudulentproperty” excludes tax fraud; “Other nonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulentproperty and includes destruction of property and trespassing; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, petty offenses, andunknown offense levels.

Note: Most serious offense charged is based on the offense carryingthe most severe statutory maximum penalty.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from“Violent offenses” to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes defendants whose offense category could not bedetermined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense catego-ries within each major offense category.


12,47413,25412,26712,77413,03614,980Misdemeanorsc





2,0101,7031,2901,155792223Possession and other27,29626,31823,40320,52220,19120,052Trafficking29,30628,02124,69321,67720,98320,275Drug offenses



67,44264,76957,02252,65650,48347,341Felonies

80,03178,17269,35165,48063,54762,327All offensesb1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense charged

Table A.6. Defendants in cases proceeded against in U.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-99


Note: Most serious offense charged is based on the offense carryingthe most severe statutory maximum penalty.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from“Violent offenses” to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes defendants whose offense category could not bedetermined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense catego-ries within each major offense category.


12,79313,50311,79512,11511,98914,111Misdemeanorsc





1,6741,565995819366163Possession and other25,33421,86721,37919,48617,82320,056Trafficking27,00823,43222,37420,30518,18920,219Drug offenses



62,83956,16053,09749,28344,46247,292Felonies

75,72369,76964,95661,43456,48061,404All offensesb

1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense charged

Table A.7. Defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-99



Note: Most serious offense charged is based on the offense carryingthe most severe statutory maximum penalty.—Too few cases to obtain statistically reliable data.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from“Violent offenses” to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes defendants whose offense category could not bedetermined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense catego-ries within each major offense category.

82.484.082.880.686.2—Unknown or indeterminable offenses

71.276.874.875.675.270.4Misdemeanorsc

85.287.383.583.582.877.5Other95.794.693.791.090.792.2Tax law violationc95.494.895.996.193.692.2Immigration88.686.687.687.584.885.2Weapons92.191.691.290.687.785.5Other83.787.785.782.579.881.3Regulatory91.591.390.889.986.884.9Public-order offenses

91.292.789.088.288.378.5Possession and other89.888.889.388.385.586.0Trafficking89.989.189.388.385.685.9Drug offenses

89.989.489.389.585.685.9Otherc90.689.889.889.688.087.7Fraudulentc90.489.889.789.587.587.3Property offenses

89.990.189.988.188.787.9Violent offensesc

90.589.989.889.086.686.2Felonies

87.2%87.4%87.1%86.4%84.2%82.6%All offensesb1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense charged

Table A.8. Defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts: Percent convicted, by offense, 1994-99


Note: Most serious offense is based on the disposition offense withthe most severe sentence.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from“Violent offenses” to “Public-order offenses.”bIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determinedor whose sentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of de-tailed offense categories within each major offense category.


10,11810,3759,63610,0549,81811,072Misdemeanorsc





1,7781,4501,058880456203Possession and other21,69819,41718,05716,48514,32216,197Trafficking23,47620,86719,11517,36514,77816,400Drug offenses



55,86450,49446,87842,99237,71339,624Felonies

66,05560,95856,57053,07647,55650,701All offensesb1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction

Table A.9. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-99

Appendix 31

bIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined or whosesentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categorieswithin each major offense category.cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligent manslaughter; “Fraudulentproperty” excludes tax fraud; “Other nonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulentproperty and includes destruction of property and trespassing; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, petty offenses, andunknown offense levels.

Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the dispositionoffense with the most severe sentence. Number of offenders in-cludes offenders given life and death sentences, and includes new lawoffenders given prison-community split sentences (prison and condi-tions of alternative community confinement). Number of offendersalso includes offenders given mixed sentences of prison plus proba-tion, applicable only to offenders sentenced pursuant to laws applica-ble prior to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Vio-lent offenses” to “Public-order offenses.”


1,5561,5901,6792,0202,0391,948Misdemeanorsc





1,5771,267919736369132Possession and other20,11718,01316,71815,24813,13314,841Trafficking21,69419,28017,63715,98413,50214,973Drug offenses



46,07041,42037,74734,34529,75931,070Felonies


Table A.10. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts: Number sentenced to prison,by offense, 1994-99

cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligentmanslaughter; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud; “Othernonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includesdestruction of property and trespassing; and “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud.

Note: Appeals were classified into the offense category that represents the underlyingoffense of conviction. Offenses represent the statutory offense charged against a de-fendant in a criminal appeal.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses” to“Public-order offenses.”bIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodologyfor a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.


701578676649563603Other91122150140103146Tax law violationc

934693417353277261Immigration1,0709821,1351,1831,0341,141Weapons2,7962,3752,3782,3251,9772,151Other

162178224196220288Regulatory2,9582,5532,6022,5212,1972,439Public-order offenses

4,5134,8454,7505,0994,4995,102Drug offenses



10,25110,53510,52110,88910,16210,674All offensesb

1999a19981997199619951994Most serious underlying offense of conviction

Table A.11. Criminal appeals filed, by offense, 1994-99


cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligentmanslaughter; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud; “Othernonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includesdestruction of property and trespassing; “Tax law violation” in-cludes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors,petty offenses, and unknown offense levels.

Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the disposition offense with themost severe sentence. Number of offenders includes offenders given probation plusconditions of confinement, such as home confinement or intermittent confinement.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses” to“Public-order offenses.”bIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined or whose sentencewas unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.


4,8794,8444,6124,6314,5565,103Misdemeanorsc

441410442398511506Other299359379338386388Tax law violationc409769310376204217Immigration190208182229221296Weapons



1531401141236665Possession and other9819529408889261,139Trafficking

1,1341,0921,0541,0119921,204Drug offenses



7,4917,2087,3877,1387,0307,677Felonies

12,40812,10812,04611,78911,60212,781All offensesb

1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction

Table A.12. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts: Number sentenced to probation only,by offense, 1994-99

cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligentmanslaughter; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud; “Othernonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includesdestruction of property and trespassing; “Tax law violation” in-cludes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors,petty offenses, and unknown offense levels.

Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the disposition offense with themost severe sentence. Calculations for imprisonment length exclude offenders givenlife or death sentences. For new law offenders given prison-community split sentences,imprisonment length includes prison sentences only.aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses” to“Public-order offenses.”bIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined or whose sentencewas unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.

62.233.830.223.071.464.0Unknown or indeterminable offenses

10.811.610.011.19.812.3Misdemeanorsc

57.654.451.551.043.042.0Other20.118.221.332.019.016.0Tax law violationc30.726.423.023.024.023.0Immigration99.5101.3102.1100.095.083.0Weapons49.748.148.952.755.654.0Other26.327.826.526.727.832.2Regulatory48.747.347.651.253.652.0Public-order offenses

83.484.377.777.066.046.0Possession and other74.878.381.385.088.084.0Trafficking75.478.781.184.887.183.9Drug offenses

33.040.435.237.047.546.2Otherc22.422.422.121.121.920.0Fraudulentc24.125.624.424.127.326.4Property offenses

88.184.486.192.798.592.3Violent offensesc

59.660.661.564.666.865.6Felonies

58.1 mo58.9 mo59.3 mo61.7 mo63.3 mo62.6 moAll offensesb1999a19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction

Table A.13. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts: Mean number of months of imprisonmentimposed, by offense, 1994-99

Appendix 33

cIncludes offenders whose felony offense category could not bedetermined. A felony offense category could not be determinedfor 70 offenders during 1994, 118 during 1995, 158 during 1996,264 during 1997, 264 during 1998, and 289 during 1999.dIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligentmanslaughter; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud; “Othernonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includesdestruction of property and trespassing; “Tax law violation” in-cludes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors,petty offenses, and unknown offense levels.

Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the offense with the longest sen-tence imposed. Number of offenders includes offenders under active supervision at theclose of the fiscal year. This population includes offenders under the three major formsof supervision: probation, supervised release, and parole. Included under parole are twoless common types of old law release: mandatory release and special parole. Excludedfrom the number of offenders under active supervision reported in the table are offend-ers released to military parole and offenders under community supervision prior to sen-tencing (such as during pretrial release or pretrial investigation).aIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from “Violent offenses” to“Public-order offenses.”bIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodologyfor a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.

10,74310,98510,94711,33811,40213,092Misdemeanorsd

4,3195,3563,5523,4963,5233,425Other1,7331,8591,8901,9782,1292,184Tax law violationd1,3341,2721,4051,1809591,083Immigration4,1234,0383,9083,8323,7313,924Weapons



4,1553,9863,8013,3422,4781,397Possession and other33,77431,41629,94228,51726,86526,841Trafficking37,92935,40233,74331,85929,34328,238Drug offenses

4,8814,8414,9645,1745,5235,916Otherd23,38122,67822,62122,03421,98922,609Fraudulentd28,26227,51927,58527,20827,51228,525Property offenses

5,4395,5775,2705,0364,7534,873Violent offensesd

85,75981,82879,80476,85174,26074,597Feloniesc


Table A.14. Offenders under Federal supervision, by offense, 1994-99

cIncludes prisoners whose offense category could not be determined. See Methodol-ogy for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offense category.dIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include nonnegligent manslaughter; “Fraudulentproperty” excludes tax fraud; “Other nonfraudulent property” excludes fraudulentproperty and includes destruction of property and trespassing; and “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud.

Note: Most serious offense is based on the offense having the long-est sentence.aThe yearend population for 1998 was adjusted to reflect an additional1,013 prisoners reported in the Compendium of Federal Justice Statis-tics, 1998.bIn the 1999 data, nonviolent sex offenses were reclassified from“Violent offenses” to “Public-order offenses.”

2,3322,3581,328947970940Unknown or indeterminable offenses

5,4284,6664,2903,7893,5313,274Other330376358347364364Tax law violationd


25,40821,21418,18416,30814,76112,898Other1,0481,0591,013919894878Regulatory


525447409324381382Possession and other67,83562,56458,20154,87052,40150,197Trafficking68,36063,01158,61055,19452,78250,579Drug offenses

2,1292,1622,0031,9742,0192,163Otherd6,5536,4656,1485,8075,8235,725Fraudulentd8,6828,6278,1517,7817,8427,888Property offenses

13,35512,65611,65811,52311,40911,179Violent offensesd

119,185108,92598,94492,67288,65884,362All offensesc1999b1998a1997199619951994Most serious original offense of conviction

Table A.15. Population at the end of the year in Federal prisons, by offense, 1994-99


federal criminal case processing, 1999; with trends 1982

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