The Commission promulgates guidelines that judges consult when sentencing federal offenders. When the guidelines are amended, a subsequent
Guidelines Manual is published.
In this section, you will find the Commission’s comprehensive archive of yearly amendments and Guidelines Manuals dating back to 1987.
The Commission collects, analyzes, and disseminates a broad array of information on federal crime and sentencing practices.
In this section, you will find a comprehensive collection of research and data reports published on sentencing issues and other areas of federal crime.
The Commission establishes sentencing policies and practices for the federal courts. Each year, the Commission reviews and refines these policies in light of congressional action, decisions from courts of appeals, sentencing-related research, and input from the criminal justice community.
In this section, you can follow the Commission’s work through the amendment cycle as priorities are set, research is performed, testimony is heard, and amendments are adopted.
The Commission serves as an information resource for Congress, the executive branch, the courts, criminal justice practitioners, the academic community, and the public.
In this section, you will find materials on guideline application, background information on some of the Commission’s policy decisions, and summaries of sentencing-related case law.
At a public meeting on Friday, December 9, 2016, commissioners voted to publish proposed amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines. This meeting was streamed live. Watch the public meeting.
As a supplement to the 2009 publication, the Commission is releasing this new report, using data from 2005 through 2014, to examine more recent trends in the rates of alternative sentences using a methodology that expands that of the prior report. (May 2015)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously approved its list of 2014-2015 priorities, including consideration of federal sentences for economic crimes and continued work on addressing concerns with mandatory minimum penalties.
- Commission votes to send to Congress guideline amendments providing more alternatives to incarceration, increasing consideration of certain specific offender characteristics during the sentencing process.
- U.S. Sentencing Commission Seeks Comment on Alternatives to Incarceration, Specific Offender Characteristics Relevant to Sentencing, and Hate Crimes.
This paper analyzes alternative sentences for federal offenders and, specifically, United States citizens sentenced under various types of alternatives. This analysis describes current federal sentencing policy governing alternative sentences and examines offenders with alternative sentences using the United States Sentencing Commission’s data. An analysis of factors associated with alternative sentences imposed for eligible offenders provides insight into considerations made by federal sentencing courts in determining whether to impose alternatives. (January 2009)
Public Comment from July 25, 2016