Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics

Are you interested in federal criminal prosecution or defense?  Do you need reliable, current crime and sentencing statistics for a research paper or assignment?  The United States Sentencing Commission has just released its free, online 2014 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics (scroll down for links to the content).  The Sourcebook contains statistics on federal crimes and offenders and the application of the federal sentencing guidelines in selected districts, circuits, and nationally. It includes numerical and demographic data on offenders by crime category, statistics on guilty pleas and trials, comparisons of sentences to the guideline range, data from drug and immigration cases, and sentencing appeals information.

Best of all, there is an Interactive Sourcebook where you can create customized statistical tables and filter data by circuit, district, and date. For historical or comparative statistics, consult the Annual Reports & Sourcebooks Archives, containing all Sourcebooks back to the 1996 first edition.      

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Death Penalty Developments

In the state of California, Presidential election night 2012 was also about crime and punishment. You may be aware that California voters approved Proposition 36, to revise that state's well known "Three Strikes" law [California Penal Code Sec. 667] to no longer apply a life sentence for a third (even non-violent) felony conviction after two previous convictions for violent felonies. Under the revised law, those convicted of a third felony, unless the third felony itself was a violent or serious one, will serve twice the minimum sentence for the third felony and not receive a life sentence.

At the same time, a majority in California also voted to retain that state's death penalty on Tuesday. Proposition 34, which would have replaced the death penalty with sentences of life without parole, went down to defeat. The death penalty, and its economic, social, and policy implications, will remain a "hot topic" issue for legal scholars, attorneys, and law students.  A good starting point for background and all types of resources on the death penalty is the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).  This nonpartisan organization provides news and current developments, reports, maps, statistics, surveys, links to academic articles, coverage of the history of the death penalty with bibliographic references for research papers and projects, and analysis of specific death penalty issues, such as clemency or juveniles.  

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Sentencing Law and Policy Blog

If you are interested in criminal law, take a look at the Sentencing Law and Policy blog. The blog has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal and Lawyer's Weekly, and according to this, is the first blog to be cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Speaking of sentencing, I discovered that a movie called Punishment Park (1971) will be screening at the Museum of Modern Art in February and March. The movie is a "fake documentary" in which members of the counterculture (this was the 1970's) are sentenced to run across the California desert while being chased by law enforcement. I have heard it is a fascinating movie.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat