Introduction
This page provides users with access to the Commission's annual and other special datafiles that support the Commission's research agenda. These datafiles exclude identifiers and provide fiscal year data for researchers interested in studying federal sentencing practices through quantitative methods. The Commission's individual and organizational datafiles may also be accessed through the University of Michigan's Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).
The complexity of the federal sentencing guidelines, and by extension, federal sentencing data can lead researchers to make errors when using this data. Guidance on how to avoid common pitfalls can be found in the Office of Research and Data's presentation, "Effective Use of Federal Sentencing Data."
Available Sets of Datafiles
Individual Offender Datafiles
The Commission’s individual datafiles provide information on the sentences imposed in cases involving individuals. In these datafiles the individual is the unit of analysis. These datafiles do not contain information from the Commission's Organizational, Resentencing, or Appeals Databases.
Datafiles (downloads are SAS and SPSS compatible)
Organizational (Corporate) Datafiles
The Commission’s organizational datafiles provide information on the sentences imposed in cases involving organizational offenders (i.e., corporations, partnerships, and other entities having a legal existence separate from the individuals having an interest in them). In these datafiles the organization is the unit of analysis. These files contain no information on individual offenders even in cases in which individuals as well as organizations are prosecuted for the same offense. These datafiles do not contain information from the Commission's Individual, Resentencing, or Appeals Databases.
Datafiles (downloads are SAS and SPSS compatible)
Datafiles (downloads are SAS and SPSS compatible)