U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Federal Justice Statistics: Reconciled Data Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998 With trends 1982-98 Bureau of Justice Statistics 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 Suspects investigated Defendants charged Defendants convicted Defendants imprisoned Federal criminal case processing, 1994-98
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U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice Programs
Federal Justice Statistics: Reconciled Data
Federal Criminal CaseProcessing, 1998With trends 1982-98
Bureau of Justice Statistics
1994 1995 1996 1997 19980
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
Suspects investigated
Defendants charged
Defendants convicted
Defendants imprisoned
Federal criminal case processing, 1994-98
Bureau of Justice Statistics
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
Federal Criminal CaseProcessing, 1998With trends 1982-98
Federal Justice Statistics: Reconciled Data
August 1999, NCJ 169277
U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsBureau of Justice Statistics
Highlights, 1
Introduction, 3
Federal criminal case processing,1998, 5Tables and figures
Methodology, 15The Federal justice database
Table construction and interpretation
Offense classifications
Classification level
Estimations
Statistics appearing in Federal CriminalCase Processing, 1998
Appendix, 21Tables
Contents iii
Contents
Federal criminal case processing,1998, 5October 1, 1997 - September 30, 19981. Suspects in criminal matters investi-
gated by U.S. attorneys, by offense
2. Disposition of suspects in mattersconcluded by U.S. attorneys, byoffense
3. Defendants in cases proceededagainst in U.S. district courts, byoffense
4. Disposition of defendants in casesterminating in U.S. district courts, byoffense
5. Sanctions imposed on offendersconvicted and sentenced in U.S.district courts, by offense
6. Criminal appeals filed, by type ofcriminal case and offense
7. Offenders under Federal supervi-sion, by offense
8. Federal prison admissions and re-leases, by offense
Methodology, 15M.1. Breakouts of main category
offenses
M.2. Source agencies for data tables inFederal Criminal Case Processing
Appendix, 21A.1. Suspects in criminal matters investi-
gated by U.S. attorneys, by offense,1994-1998
A.2. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. attorneys, by of-fense, 1994-1998
A.3. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. attorneys: Numberprosecuted before U.S. district courtjudge, by offense, 1994-1998
A.4. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. magistrates, by of-fense, 1994-1998
A.5. Suspects in criminal matters con-cluded by U.S. attorneys: Numberdeclined prosecution, by offense,1994-1998
A.6. Defendants in cases proceededagainst in U.S. district courts, by of-fense, 1994-1998
A.7. Defendants in cases terminating inU.S. district courts, by offense,1994-1998
A.8. Defendants in cases terminating inU.S. district courts: Percent con-victed, by offense, 1994-1998
A.9. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts, by offense,1994-1998
A.10. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts: Number sen-tenced to prison, by offense,1994-1998
A.11. Criminal appeals filed, by offense,1994-1998
A.12. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts: Number sen-tenced to probation only, byoffense, 1994-1998
A.13. Offenders convicted and sentencedin U.S. district courts: Mean num-ber of months of imprisonment im-posed, by offense, 1994-1998
A.14. Offenders under Federal supervi-sion, by offense, 1994-1998
A.15. Population at the end of the year inFederal prisons, by offense,1994-1998
iv Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
Tables
Highlights, 1Figure H.1. Number of suspects in crimi-
nal matters investigated byU.S. attorneys, October 1,1997 - September 30, 1998
Figure H.2. Number of offenders underFederal correctional supervi-sion, September 30, 1998
Federal criminal case processing,1998, 5Figure 1. Number of suspects in crimi-
nal matters investigated byU.S. attorneys, by categoryof offense, 1982-1998
Figure 2. Number of defendants incriminal cases terminated inU.S. district court, by cate-gory of offense, 1982-1998
Figure 3. Defendants convicted in U.S.district court: Percentagesentenced to prison, by cate-gory of offense, 1982-1998
Figure 4. Number of offenders underFederal supervision, by typeof supervision, 1987-1998
Figure 5. U.S. district court commit-ments and first releases fromFederal prison, 1985-1998
Contents v
Figures
Z During 1998, U.S. attorneys initiated investiga-tions involving 115,692 suspects for possibleviolations of Federal law. Almost a third (32%)of those investigated were suspected of a drugviolation.
Z Between 1994 and 1998, investigations initi-ated by U.S. attorneys have increased 16.5%— from 99,251 to 115,692. Investigations forimmigration violations increased from 5,526 to14,114; for drug offenses, investigations in-creased from 29,311 to 36,355.
Z During 1998, U.S. attorneys declined to prose-cute a smaller proportion of those investigated.Declinations decreased from 36% of mattersconcluded during 1994 to 27% during 1998.
Z Criminal charges were filed against 78,172 de-fendants in U.S. district courts during 1998 — a 25% increase since 1994.
Z The number of defendants charged with an immigration offense increased from 2,453 to9,254 and the number charged with a drug offense increased from 20,275 to 28,021.
Z Drug prosecutions have comprised an increas-ing proportion of the Federal criminal caseload— from 21% of defendants during 1982 to 35%during 1998.
Z Under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, theproportion of defendants sentenced to prisonincreased from 54% during 1988 to 71% during1998. The proportion of drug offenders sen-tenced to prison increased from 79% to 92%.
Z Prison sentences imposed increased from 55.1months during 1988 to 58.9 months during1998. For drug offenses, prison sentences in-creased from 71.3 months to 78.7 months; forweapons offenses, sentences imposed in-creased from 52.3 months to 101.3 months.
Z During 1998, 92,813 offenders were underFederal community supervision. Supervisedrelease has become the primary form of super-vision in the Federal system: 59.1% of offend-ers were on supervised release compared to34.7% on probation, and 6.3% remaining onparole.
Z On September 30, 1998, 107,912 offenderswere serving a prison sentence in Federalprison; 58% were incarcerated for a drug of-fense; 11%, for a violent offense; 8% for aweapons offense; 8% for a property offense,7% for an immigration offense; and 8% for allother 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
115,692
77,236
60,958
42,405
10,535
Number of suspects in criminal matters investigated by U.S.attorneys, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Figure H.1.
Figure H.2.
*Prison includes offenders given life and death sentences, and includes new lawoffenders given prison-community split sentences (prison and conditions of alter-native community confinement).
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000
Prison
Supervised release
Probation
Parole
107,912
54,822
32,164
5,827
Number of offenders under Federal correctional supervision,September 30, 1998
Highli ghts
Federal Criminal Case Processing,1998, first 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 Septem-ber 30, 1998. Also included are fig-ures describing trends in Federalcriminal case processing during the1982-98 period.
The data presented are compiledfrom the BJS Federal justicedatabase. The Federal justice data-base is comprised of data provided bythe Executive Office for the U.S. Attor-neys, the Administrative Office of theU.S. Courts, the U.S SentencingCommission, and the Federal Bureauof Prisons. The Administrative Officeof the U.S. Courts provides data de-scribing 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 or on CD-ROM from the BJSClearinghouse. For more detailed in-formation on obtaining the Federaljustice database, see page ii.
Statistics presented in this report in-clude the number of suspects investi-gated by U.S. attorneys for possibleviolations of Federal law, the outcomeof U.S. attorney investigations (prose-cution or declination), the number ofdefendants prosecuted in U.S. districtcourts, the outcome of criminal cases(convicted, not convicted), sanctionsimposed on defendants convicted(type of sentence imposed and lengthof imprisonment), the number andtype of criminal appeals filed, and thenumber of offenders under Federalcorrectional supervision — prison,probation, parole, and supervised re-lease. A related publication, the Com-pendium of Federal Justice Statistics,while presenting many of the samestatistics as those included in this re-port, provides more detail — includingstatistics on up to 40 offense catego-ries and statistics on additional caseprocessing concepts such as pretrial
release and demographic characteris-tics of offenders.
Several case processing statisticspresented in this report have previ-ously been reported by the agencies.However, because individual agenciesuse different criteria to collect, tabu-late, and report on case processingevents, statistics published by each ofthe agencies may not be directly com-parable. In this report, BJS has at-tempted to reconcile differences indata collection and reporting in orderto present comparable statisticsacross stages of the Federal criminaljustice system. For a description ofthe reconciliation effort and the meth-odology employed, see ComparingCase Processing Statistics (NCJ-169274) and Reconciling FederalCriminal Case Processing Statistics(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 byagencies supplying the data — read-ers are encouraged to refer to theglossary of the Compendium of Fed-eral Justice Statistics for definitions of concepts.
2. Number of defendants in criminal casesterminated in U.S. district court, by categoryof offense, 1982-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. Defendants convicted in U.S. district court: Percentage sentenced to prison, by categoryof offense, 1982-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4. Number of offenders under Federal super-vision, by type of supervision, 1987-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5. U.S. district court commitments and first releasesfrom Federal prison, 1985-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
dIn this table, "Violent offenses" may includenon-negligent manslaughter and some non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property" ex-
aBased on the decision of the assistant U.S. at-torney responsible for the matter.bPercent based on number whose offense cate-
1,420Unknown or indeterminable offenses
11.813,529Other1.01,174Tax law violationd
12.414,114Immigration4.34,907Weapons
29.533,724Other5.76,541Regulator y
35.240,265Public-order offenses
31.836,355Drug offenses
3.33,797Other d
23.026,328Fraudulent d
26.430,125Property offenses
6.67,527Violent offenses d
100%115,692All offenses c
PercentbNumber
Suspects in criminal matters received by U.S. attorneys
Most serious offense investigateda
Table 1. Suspects in criminal matters investigated by U.S. attorneys,by offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Suspects in criminal matters concluded
Table 2. Disposition of suspects in matters concluded by U.S. attorneys, by offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Federal criminal case processing, 1998 7
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19980
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, 1982-1998
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. See Meth-odology for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offensecategory.fIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Othernon-fraudulent property" excludes fraudulent property and includes destruction ofproperty and trespass; 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 a dis-trict court judge. cIncludes defendants in misdemeanor cases which were terminated in U.S.district court before a U.S. magistrate.dIncludes suspects whose matters were declined for prosecution by U.S. attor-neys upon review.
23.324648.451128.22981,055Unknown or indeterminable offenses
30.43,71539.34,79530.33,69812,208Other33.13392.32464.66611,024Tax law violationf2.837017.92,37479.310,50513,249Immigration
dIn this table, "Violent offenses" may includenon- negligent manslaughter and some non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property"excludes tax fraud; "Other non-fraudulentproperty" excludes fraudulent property and in-cludes destruction of property and trespass;"Tax law violation" includes tax fraud; and"Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors,petty offenses, and unknown offense levels.
aBased on the offense carrying the most severe statu-tory 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 major of-fense category.
149Unknown or indeterminable offenses
17.013,254Misdemeanors d
3.12,457Other0.9673Tax law violationd
11.89,254Immigration5.54,287Weapons
21.316,671Other1.71,359Regulator y
23.118,030Public-order offenses
2.21,703Possession and other33.726,318Trafficking35.828,021Drug offenses
3.32,554Other d
15.912,401Fraudu lentd
19.114,955Property offenses
4.83,763Violent offensesd
82.964,769Felonies
100%78,172All offenses cPercentbNumber
Defendants in cases commencedMost serious offense chargeda
Table 3. Defendants in cases proceeded against in U.S. district courts,by offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Federal criminal case processing, 1998 9
within each major offense category.fIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include non-negligent manslaughter and some non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Other non-fraudulent prop-erty" excludes fraudulent property and includes destruction of property and trespass; "Taxlaw violation" includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, petty of-fenses, and unknown offense levels.
aBased on the offense carrying the most severe statutory maximumpenalty.bIncludes nolle contendere.cIncludes bench and jury trials.dIncludes defendants in cases dismissed for lack of evidence or lack ofFederal interest.eIncludes defendants for whom an offense category could not be deter-mined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories
116173868984.0106Unknown or indeterminable offenses
5352,5933,1285559,82010,37576.813,503Misdemeanors f
482452931941,8252,01987.32,312Other637435869475294.6795Tax law violationf
13102115901,3601,45092.71,565Possession and other2402,2102,4501,41218,00519,41788.821,867Trafficking2532,3122,5651,50219,36520,86789.123,432Drug offenses
Number not convictedNumber convictedPercentconvicted
Number of defendantsMost serious offense chargeda
Defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts
Table 4. Disposition of defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts, by offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
10 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19980
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
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, bycategory of offense, 1982-1998
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
fCalculations exclude offenders given life or death sentences. For new law of-fenders given prison-community split sentences, imprisonment length includesprison sentences only.gIncludes offenders for whom offense categories could not be determined or forwhom a sentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailed of-fense categories within each major offense category.hIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property" excludes tax fraud; "Othernon-fraudulent property" excludes fraudulent property and includes destruction ofproperty and trespass; "Tax law violation" includes tax fraud; and"Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, petty offenses, and unknown offensel l
aBased on the disposition offense with the most severe sentence.bIncludes offenders given life and death sentences, and includes new lawoffenders given prison-community split sentences (prison and conditions ofalternative community confinement).cIncludes offenders given mixed sentences of prison plus probation; appli-cable only to offenders sentenced pursuant to laws applicable prior to theSentencing Reform Act of 1984.dIncludes offenders given probation plus conditions of confinement, suchas home confinement or intermittent confinement.eIncludes offenders who had no sentence imposed, those with sealedsentences, and those who were deported.
28.533.8205632889Unknown or indeterminable offenses
4.011.69242,9474,844921,49810,375Misdemeanors h
30.054.44614410111,5312,019Other12.018.26935916360752Tax law violationh24.026.43837769276,8537,569Immigration60.0101.3295208572,8573,160Weapons26.048.1464351,25511111,60113,500Other15.027.8484658265001,187Regulator y24.047.3512811,83711712,10114,687Public-order offenses
60.084.3385140121,2551,450Possession and other57.078.33873395223417,77919,417Trafficking57.078.7425381,09224619,03420,867Drug offenses
33.0 mo58.9 mo2,4043,19912,10863642,40560,958All offenses g
MedianMeanOthereFine onlyTotalP b i d
Mixed
c
Imprison-mentbMost serious offense of convictiona
Months of imprison-ment imposedf
NumberOffenders convicted and sentenced
Table 5. Sanctions imposed on offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts, by offense,October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Federal criminal case processing, 1998 11
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19980%
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, bycategory of offense, 1982-1998
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
cIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include non-negligent manslaughterand some non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property" excludes taxfraud; "Other non-fraudulent property" excludes fraudulent property and in-cludes destruction of property and trespass; and "Tax law violation" in-cludes tax fraud.
aBased on the disposition offense with the most severe sentence.bIncludes offenders for whom offense category could not be determined. SeeMethodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within each major offensecategory.
71134483247201448Unknown or indeterminable offenses
1229755110474104578Other764102010121122Tax law violationc
3896820866528693Immigration14523149180866116982Weapons331,2732825182,1062692,375Other185313515226178Regulator y
Guidelines-based appealsNumber of criminal appeals filed
Table 6. Criminal appeals filed, by type of criminal case and offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
12 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
dIncludes 264 total offenders, 175 offenders under probation, 3 underparole, and 86 under supervised release whose felony offense cate-gory could not be determined. eIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property" excludestax fraud; "Other non-fraudulent property" excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; "Tax law violation"includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
aIncludes offenders under active supervision at the close of the fiscal year.This population includes offenders under the three major forms of supervi-sion: probation, supervised release, and parole. Included under parole aretwo less common types of old law release: mandatory release and specialparole. Excluded from the number of offenders under active supervision re-ported in the table are offenders released to military parole and offendersunder community supervision prior to sentencing (such as during pretrial re-lease 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 each ma-jor offense category.
4.95370.11395.010,43510,985Misdemeanors e
38.22,0465.831125.11,3445,356Other34.76462.44562.81,1681,859Tax law violatione49.06230.81050.26391,272Immigration80.33,2434.618715.16084,038Weapons60.36,5585.155334.63,75910,870Other38.58451.73859.81,3132,196Regulator y56.77,4034.559138.85,07213,066Public-order offenses
82.53,2896.626310.94343,986Possession and other81.125,4778.92,78610.03,15331,416Trafficking81.328,7668.63,04910.13,58735,402Drug offenses
46.82,2644.923748.32,3404,841Othere
55.312,5351.738543.09,75822,678Fraudulent e
53.814,7992.362244.012,09827,519Property offenses
57.93,23127.81,54914.37975,577Violent offenses e
66.354,2857.15,81426.621,72981,828Felonies d
59.1%54,8226.3%5,82734.7%32,16492,813All offenses c
Post-incarceration supervisionOffenders under active supervisiona
Table 7. Offenders under Federal supervision, by offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Federal criminal case processing, 1998 13
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19980
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
Probation
Parole
Probation
Parole
Number of defendants
Supervisedrelease
All types
Supervised release
Number of offenders under Federal supervision, by type of supervision,1987-1998
Note: Data for 1987 through 1994 are based on a count of the supervised population as of June 30. Beginning in1995, data are based on a count as of September 30.
Figure 4
fIncludes prisoners for whom an offense category could not be de-termined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense catego-ries within each major offense category.gIn this table, "Violent offenses" may include non-negligent man-slaughter and some non-violent sex offenses; "Fraudulent property"excludes tax fraud; "Other non-fraudulent property" excludesfraudulent property and includes destruction of property and tres-pass; and "Tax law violation" 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 violatorsof 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. districtcourt commitment.
4001,8262774285026031,426Unknown or indeterminable offenses
3394,6531,2251,9931,2482,3094,314Other-1376121386119387377Tax law violationg
81512,2762,5281,8622,7952,41011,461Violent offenses g
9,670107,91214,04134,50415,60242,61398,242All offenses f
Net changeAll othereDistrict courtdAll othercDistrict courtbPopulation atend of year
Prisoners releasedPrisoners admittedPopulation atstart of yearMost serious offensea
Table 8. Federal prison admissions and releases, by offense, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
14 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 19980
10
20
30
40
50Number of months
Expected time to be servedfor offenders committedinto prison
Average time served by offenders released from prison
U.S. district court commitments and first releases from Federal prison, 1985-1998
Figure 5
The Federal justice database
Source of dataThe source of data for all tables inFederal Criminal Case Processing isthe Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)Federal justice database. The data-base is presently constructed fromsource files provided by the ExecutiveOffice for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA),the Administrative Office of the U.S.Courts (AOUSC), and the Federal Bu-reau of Prisons (BOP). AOUSC alsomaintains the data collected by theU.S. Court of Appeals and the FederalProbation and Supervision Informa-tion System (FPSIS). Federal lawprohibits the use of these files for anypurpose other than research or statis-tics. A description of the sourceagency data files is provided in tableM.2 at the end of this section.
Data universeThe universe of the BJS Federal jus-tice database includes criminal sus-pects investigated for violations ofFederal criminal law, defendants incases filed in U.S. district courts, andoffenders entering Federal correctionsand correctional supervision.
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 felonydefendants, 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 oftheir commitment (e.g., U.S. districtcourt, State court, or military court, orreturn from a violation of conditions ofsupervision) or length of sentence.This may include some offenders whowere convicted of immigration
offenses who were committed forpetty offenses.
The universe of supervised offendersincludes persons entering and exitingterms of Federal supervision, and per-sons under Federal supervision dur-ing the fiscal year. Supervision typesinclude probation, parole, and super-vised release. Included amongst pa-role supervisees are those under twoless common types of "old law" super-vision (sentenced prior to the imple-mentation of the Sentencing ReformAct of 1984): mandatory release andspecial release.
The universe of suspects, defendants,and offenders varies from table to ta-ble in this report, depending on thedefinition of the statistic reported andthe source of the data.
Reporting periodWherever possible, matters or caseshave been selected according tosome event which occurred during fis-cal year 1998 (October 1, 1997,through September 30, 1998). Somedata files provided by source agenciesare organized according to a calendaryear time frame; these have beencombined and divided into fiscal yearsfor purposes of this report. Fileswhich are organized by their sourceagencies according to fiscal yearnonetheless include some pertinentrecords in later years' files. For ex-ample, tabulations of suspects in mat-ters concluded during fiscal year 1998have been assembled from sourcefiles containing records of 1998 mat-ters concluded which were enteredinto the data system during fiscalyears 1997 or 1998.
In the figures showing trends in Fed-eral criminal case processing, infor-mation is presented for a period be-tween 1982 and 1998. Data from theEOUSA are estimated from 1982 through 1993, as data prior to 1993 in-cluded appeals information not in-cluded in the subsequent years. Be-cause of changes in the reporting andcollection of data over time, data col-lected prior to 1994 from AOUSC andEOUSA were reported on a calendar-year basis; data collected from
1994-1998 are on a fiscal-year basis.The figures are marked and noted ac-cording to the period of measurement.In figure 4, data collected from FPSISreflect the supervised population as ofJune 30 for the period of 1987-1994,and the population as of September30 for the period of 1995-1998. In fig-ure 5, data collected from BOP, pre-sented from 1985-1998, are reportedon a fiscal-year basis.
Table construction andinterpretation
Universe in each tableThe universe in tables 1 and 2, andfigure 1 is suspects in criminal mat-ters investigated by U.S. attorneys. Aperson appearing in multiple matterswill be counted separately for eachmatter. Matters include criminal pro-ceedings handled exclusively by U.S.attorneys, or in which U.S. attorneysprovided assistance and spent atleast one hour of time.
The universe in tables 3, 4, and 5, aswell as figures 2 and 3 is defendantsadjudicated and sentenced in U.S.district 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 whoappear 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 6 is criminal ap-peals filed in the U.S. Court of Ap-peals. Appeals filed include bothPreguidelines- and Guidelines-basedappeals. The Sentencing Reform Actallowed for the appeal of sentencesimposed, where previously only theconviction could be appealed.
The universe in table 7 and figure 4 isoffenders entering, exiting, or underactive supervision. Active supervisionincludes supervisees who report regu-larly to their supervising officers. Ex-cluded are offenders released to mili-tary parole and offenders who are
Methodology 15
Methodology
under community release prior tosentencing.
The universe in table 8 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 acourt commitment.
Unit of analysisThe unit of analysis in tables 1through 6 is a combination of a per-son (or corporation) and a matter orcase. For example, if a single personis involved in three different criminalcases during the time period specifiedin the table, he or she is counted threetimes in the tabulation. Similarly, if asingle criminal case involves a corpo-rate defendant and four individual de-fendants, it counts five times in thetabulation.
In tables 7 and 8, 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 andagain after reinstatement, is countedas two terminations of probation.
InterpretationThe data presented in this report is astatistical presentation of offendersprocessed in the Federal criminal
justice system. The tables presenteddescribe the number of offendersprocessed, and the outcome of thatprocessing, at each stage of the Fed-eral criminal justice system. Becausemany tables represent different cross-sections of offenders, comparisonsacross tables are not necessarilyvalid.
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 EOUSA (tables 1 and 2,figure 1), which include U.S. Code ci-tations but do not include the AOUSCoffense classifications, U.S. Code ti-tles and sections are translated intothe AOUSC classification system andthen aggregated into the offense cate-gories used in the tables. Offensecategories for prisoners in table 8 arebased on combinations of offensedesignations used by BOP. They aresimilar to the categories in other ta-bles, 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 fur-ther classified using the maximumterm of imprisonment authorized.Section 3559, U.S. Code, Title 18classifies offenses according to thefollowing schedule:
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 months.
Class B misdemeanor — 6 monthsor less but more than 30 days.
Class C misdemeanor — 30 days orless but more than 5 days.
Infraction — 5 days or less, or if noimprisonment is authorized.
In this report, felony and misde-meanor distinctions are providedwhere the data permit these distinc-tions. Tables 1 and 2 do not use thisdistinction because many suspectscannot be so classified at the investi-gation stage in the criminal justiceprocess. Table 6 does not use thisdistinction because the Court of Ap-peals data do not allow for such abreakout. Table 8 does not use thisdistinction because BOP offense cate-gories do not allow for such a break-out. None of the figures showingtrend data report this distribution.
Classification level
Offenses in the tables in this reportare classified, at the most generallevel, into felony and misdemeanorcategories. Felonies are then brokenout by four main level offense classifi-cations: violent, property, drug, andpublic-order offenses. Property andpublic-order offenses are broken outinto two sublevels. The main-leveland sub-group categories are com-posed of individual offense types.Where the data source allows, drugoffenses are broken out into the indi-vidual offense level. “Other public-order offenses” include a limited
16 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
*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.
breakout at the individual offense typelevel. Table M.1 includes a list of spe-cific offenses under each offensecategory.
Offense categoriesFor offenses referred to in table M.1,the following conditions apply:
"Murder " includes nonnegligentmanslaughter.
"Other sex offenses " may includesome nonviolent offenses.
"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 un-known offense levels.
"Drug possession " also includesother drug 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 of-fense description may change as thecriminal justice process proceeds.Tables indicate whether investigated,charged, or adjudicated offenses areused.
In tables 1 and 2, the most serious of-fense is based on the criminal leadcharge as determined by the assis-tant U.S. attorney responsible for thecriminal proceeding.
In tables 3 and 4, the most serious of-fense charged is the one that has themost severe potential sentence.
For table 5, conviction offenses arebased on the disposition offenseshaving the most severe penalty.
In table 6, an offense is classified intothe category that represents the un-derlying offense of conviction, basedon the disposition offense with themost severe sentence.
In table 7, 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 se-verity code ranking.
In table 8, 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 mat-ters included appellants in Federalcriminal appeals. Because full-sourceagency data prior to 1994 could notbe accessed, an estimation procedurewas used to estimate the number ofappellants within main offense cate-gories and then subtract them fromthe number of suspects in criminalmatters which included appellants.The procedure is described in the fol-lowing paragraphs.
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, suchas AOUSC reports, an estimator wasdeveloped based on the assumption
that the ratio of appellants to defen-dants plus appellants in the EOUSAdata was equal to the observed ratioof appellants to appellants plus defen-dants in the AOUSC data, or:
AAO
(AAO+DAO)=
AEO
(AEO+DEO)
where:AAO = number of AO appellantsDAO = number of AO defendantsAEO = number of EO appellantsDEO = 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 num-ber of suspects in criminal matters.These were used in figure 1. Theseestimates were done at the level of of-fense category (violent, property,drugs, and public 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 (1985-1998);
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) a lowerbound estimate of time to be served isused, based on actual data from simi-lar prisoners in previous enteringyears. For prisoners in category (c) alower bound of 85% of the sentenceimposed, the minimum sentence to beserved under the Sentencing ReformAct, is recorded. A weighted averageof all three estimation components istaken, using the percentage distribu-tion of prisoner types (a), (b), and (c)in an entering cohort.
Statistics appearing in FederalCriminal Case Processing, 1998
The statistics appearing in this reportare as follows:
Table 1. 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 transferfrom another district. An immediatedeclination is one in which a U.S. at-torney declines to prosecute a crimi-nal matter without investigating thematter. Suspects may include per-sons, corporations, or other legal enti-ties. Matters are limited to criminalmatters investigated by U.S. attorneysor matters in which U.S. attorneys as-sisted in the investigation. Suspectsappearing in more than one matterare counted separately for eachmatter.
Table 2. 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 wasopened. A matter is defined as con-cluded when a U.S. attorney files acase in a U.S. district court before aU.S. district court judge, when a U.S.
attorney declines to prosecute thematter, or when a misdemeanor caseis concluded before a U.S. magistrate.The table excludes suspects whosematter was declined immediately orwhose matter was concluded bytransfer. Suspects in matters con-cluded may include persons, corpora-tions, or other legal entities and arelimited to the suspects investigated orprosecuted by U.S. attorneys, or inwhich U.S. attorneys assisted in theinvestigation or prosecution. Suspectsappearing in more than one matterare counted separately for eachmatter.
Table 3. Defendants in casescommencedThis is the number of defendants incases proceeded in U.S. district court,either before a U.S. district courtjudge or a U.S. magistrate. Proceed-ings are initiated on or after the date acase is filed in a U.S. district court.Included in the count are defendantsin cases handled by U.S. district courtjudges plus Class A misdemeanors,whether handled by a U.S. districtcourt judge or a U.S. magistrate. Alsoincluded are defendants in cases in-volving petty offenses (Class B or Cmisdemeanors) if they were handledby U.S. district court judges. Thesecases included all cases commencedregardless of the source of prosecu-tion — U.S. attorneys or Departmentof Justice. Excluded from this countare defendants whose cases wereopened by transfer from another dis-trict (e.g., a Rule 20 or Rule 40 trans-fer). Defendants appearing in morethan one case are counted separatelyin each case.
Table 4. 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-fendants is sentenced, if he or shewas convicted. Included in the countare defendants in cases handled byU.S. district court judges plus Class Amisdemeanors, whether handled by a
18 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
U.S. district court judge or a U.S.magistrate. Also included are defen-dants in cases involving petty of-fenses (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 20or Rule 40 transfer). Defendants ap-pearing in more than one case arecounted separately in each case.
Defendants are classified as con-victed if they plead guilt, nolo conten-dere, or if they are found guilty at trial.Defendants convicted by trial includedthose found guilty by reason of insan-ity. Defendants not convicted in-cludes defendants whose cases weredismissed and those who were acquit-ted or found not guilty at trial.
Table 5. 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)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 20or Rule 40 transfer). Defendants ap-pearing in more than one case arecounted separately in each case.
The sanctions shown in table 5 in-clude imprisonment only, mixed sen-tences of prison plus supervision, pro-bation, and fine only. Imprisonment islimited to defendants receiving termsof imprisonment but no probation, in-cluding life and death sentences, butexcluding suspended sentences orsentences to fewer than 4 days. Newlaw offenders receiving
prison-community split sentences(prison and conditions of alternativecommunity confinement) are also in-cluded. Mixed sentences include de-fendants given sentences of bothprison and probation (applies to of-fenders 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 con-finement are classified under proba-tion. Fine only includes those defen-dants who received only a fine. Othersentences include sealed sentences,prison sentences of four days or less,deportations, and cases in which thedefendant was convicted but not givena sentence. The statistics on meanand median prison sentences arebased on the number given prison ex-clusive of life and death sentences.For offenders given prison-communitysplit sentences, only the length of theprison sentence is included in thecalculation.
Table 6. 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 vio-lation of the law; (2) imposed as theresult of an incorrect sentencingguideline application; (3) outside therecommended guideline sentencingrange; or (4) imposed for an offensefor which no sentencing guideline ex-ists and is plainly unreasonable. Boththe defendant and the Governmenthave the right to appeal an imposedsentence (18 U.S.C. § 3742).
Table 7. Offenders underFederal supervisionThis table reports the number of of-fenders under active supervision atthe close of the fiscal year. It includesoffenders under three forms of super-vision: probation, supervised release,
and parole. Included in parole super-visees are those under two less com-mon types of "old law" (sentencedprior to the implementation of theSentencing Reform Act of 1984),mandatory release and special re-lease. The unit of analysis is a uniqueperson released on supervision.
Table 8. PrisonersThis table reports the number of sen-tenced Federal offenders committedinto the custody of the BOP, releasedfrom this custody, or in Federalprison. "Into the custody of" includesprisoners in BOP facilities plus con-tract facilities. Contract facilities gen-erally house offenders prior to releasefrom prison. Sentenced offenders in-clude felony, misdemeanor, and pettyoffenders sentenced to prison regard-less of the judge — U.S. district courtjudge or U.S. magistrate — who sen-tenced the offender. The unit ofanalysis for the prisoner stocks is aunique person in Federal prison. Theunit of count for prisoner movementsis based on admissions and releasesinto and from Federal prison. Aunique person may appear more thanonce in a column showing admissionsand releases if that person was admit-ted or released from Federal prisonmore than once during the reportingperiod.
Included in the counts of district courtcommitments are offenders sen-tenced from district courts. This in-cludes some offenders sentenced byU.S. magistrates. Other admissionsinclude offenders committed fromother courts and offenders returningto prison for violations of conditions ofsupervised release. A first release isdefined as a release from a districtcourt commitment. Other releases in-clude releases of offenders who wereserving terms for violating conditionsof supervised release — offenderswho were committed on other than adistrict court commitment.
Methodology 19
Table 8
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 coversthe time that offenders enter prison until their release from the jurisdic-tion of the Bureau of Prisons.
Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Extract fromBOP’s online Sentry System
Table 7
Appendix table A.14
Contains information about supervisions provided by probation officersfor persons placed on probation or supervised release from prison.The files contain records of individuals entering, or currently on supervi-sion, as well as records of offenders terminating supervision.
AOUSC — Federal Probation and Su-pervision Information System (FPSIS)
Table 6
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.
Contains information about the criminal proceedings against defen-dants whose cases were filed in U.S. district courts. Includes informa-tion on felony defendants, Class A misdemeanants — whether handledby U.S. district court judges or U.S. magistrates — and other misde-meanants provided they were handled by U.S. district court judges.The information in the data files cover criminal proceedings from casefiling through disposition and sentencing. Data are available on crimi-nal defendants in cases filed, pending, and terminated.
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts(AOUSC) — Criminal Termination Files
Tables 1, 2
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 and Cen-tral Charge Files
TablesDescription of data files contentsData source agency — data files
Table M.2. Source agencies for data tables in Federal Criminal Case Processing
20 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
Appendix
Appendix 21
TablesA.1. Suspects in criminal matters investigated
by U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
A.2. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
A.3. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. attorneys: Number prosecutedbefore U.S. district court judge, by offense,1994-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
A.4. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. magistrates, by offense, 1994-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . 24
A.5. Suspects in criminal matters concludedby U.S. attorneys: Number declinedprosecution, by offense, 1994-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
A.15. Population at the end of the year inFederal prisons, by offense, 1994-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud;“Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespass; and “Tax law violation” includes tax fraud.
Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision ofthe assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the matter.aIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.
1,4201,6441,5151,3871,126Unknown or indeterminable offenses
13,52916,03112,33612,31712,611Other1,1741,4031,4281,3481,473Tax law violationb
Table A.1. Suspects in criminal matters investigated by U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud;“Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespass; and “Tax law violation” includes tax fraud.
Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision ofthe assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the matter.aIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.
1,0551,3021,039900588Unknown or indeterminable offenses
12,20811,53111,71411,87611,845Other1,0241,3491,4031,3291,478Tax law violationb
Table A.2. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. attorneys, by offense, 1994-1998
Appendix 23
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud;“Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespass; and “Tax law violation” includes tax fraud.
Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision ofthe assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the matter. Number of sus-pects includes suspects whose cases were filed in U.S. district courtbefore a district court judge.aIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.
298542362308244Unknown or indeterminable offenses
3,6984,0804,9514,3564,361Other661897862881927Tax law violationb
Table A.3. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. attorneys: Number prosecuted before U.S.district court judge, by offense, 1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud;“Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespass; and “Tax law violation” includes tax fraud.
Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision ofthe assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the matter. Number of sus-pects includes defendants in misdemeanor cases which were termi-nated in U.S. district court before a U.S. magistrate.aIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.
51128422822350Unknown or indeterminable offenses
4,7953,8642,9093,2613,185Other2437322949Tax law violationb
Table A.4. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. magistrates, by offense, 1994-1998
24 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaughter andsome non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludes tax fraud;“Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent property and includes de-struction of property and trespass; and “Tax law violation” includes tax fraud.
Note: Most serious offense investigated is based on the decision ofthe assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the matter. Number of sus-pects includes suspects whose matters were declined for prosecutionby U.S. attorneys upon review.aIncludes suspects whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories withineach major offense category.
246476449369294Unknown or indeterminable offenses
3,7153,5873,8544,2594,299Other339415509419502Tax law violationb370302324366293Immigration
Table A.5. Suspects in criminal matters concluded by U.S. attorneys: Number declined prosecution, byoffense, 1994-1998
Appendix 25
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense charged is based on the offense carrying themost severe statutory maximum penalty.aIncludes defendants whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.
1496250286Unknown or indeterminable offenses
13,25412,26712,77413,03614,980Misdemeanorsb
2,4572,3682,5212,7222,636Other673788707760787Tax law violationb
Table A.6. Defendants in cases proceeded against in U.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense charged is based on the offense carrying themost severe statutory maximum penalty.aIncludes defendants whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.
1066436291Unknown or indeterminable offenses
13,50311,79512,11511,98914,111Misdemeanors b
2,3122,3112,2792,2372,496Other795727687680741Tax law violationb
Table A.7. Defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-1998
26 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense charged is based on the offense carrying themost severe statutory maximum penalty.—Too few cases to obtain statistically reliable data.aIncludes defendants whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.
84.082.880.686.2—Unknown or indeterminable offenses
76.874.875.675.270.4Misdemeanors b
87.383.583.582.877.5Other94.693.791.090.792.2Tax law violationb94.895.996.193.692.2Immigration86.687.687.584.885.2Weapons91.691.290.687.785.5Other87.785.782.579.881.3Regulator y91.390.889.986.884.9Public-order offenses
92.789.088.288.378.5Possession and other88.889.388.385.586.0Trafficking89.189.388.385.685.9Drug offenses
Table A.8. Defendants in cases terminating in U.S. district courts: Percent convicted, by offense,1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense is based on the disposition offense with themost severe sentence.aIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined orwhose sentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailedoffense categories within each major offense category.
895630255Unknown or indeterminable offenses
10,3759,63610,0549,81811,072Misdemeanors b
2,0192,0362,0562,0002,002Other752715655659712Tax law violationb
19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction
Table A.9. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts, by offense, 1994-1998
Appendix 27
aIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be deter-mined or whose sentence was unknown. See Methodology for alisting of detailed offense categories within each major offensecategory.bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the disposition of-fense with the most severe sentence. Number of offenders includes of-fenders given life and death sentences, and includes new law offendersgiven prison-community split sentences (prison and conditions of alter-native community confinement). Number of offenders also includes of-fenders given mixed sentences of prison plus probation, applicable onlyto offenders sentenced pursuant to laws applicable prior to the Sentenc-ing Reform Act of 1984.
285874Unknown or indeterminable offenses
1,4981,6792,0202,0391,948Misdemeanors b
1,5311,5361,5761,4421,452Other360317311265314Tax law violationb
19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction
Table A.10. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts: Number sentenced to prison,by offense, 1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; and “Tax law viola-tion” includes tax fraud.
Note: Appeals were classified into the offense category that repre-sents the underlying offense of conviction. Offenses represent thestatutory offense charged against a defendant in a criminal appeal.aIncludes offenders whose offense category could not bedetermined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense cate-gories within each major offense category.
448458491999328Unknown or indeterminable offenses
578676649563603Other122150140103146Tax law violationb693417353277261Immigration9821,1351,1831,0341,141Weapons
19981997199619951994Most serious underlying offense of conviction
Table A.11. Criminal appeals filed, by offense, 1994-1998
28 Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the disposition of-fense with the most severe sentence. Number of offenders includes of-fenders given probation plus conditions of confinement, such as homeconfinement or intermittent confinement. aIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined orwhose sentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailedoffense categories within each major offense category.
564720161Unknown or indeterminable offenses
4,8444,6124,6314,5565,103Misdemeanors b
410442398511506Other359379338386388Tax law violationb769310376204217Immigration208182229221296Weapons
1,2551,3131,3411,3221,407Other582522542531575Regulator y
1,8371,8351,8831,8531,982Public-order offenses
1401141236665Possession and other9529408889261,139Trafficking
19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction
Table A.12. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts: Number sentenced toprobation only, by offense, 1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the disposition of-fense with the most severe sentence. Calculations for imprisonmentlength exclude offenders given life or death sentences. For new law of-fenders given prison-community split sentences, imprisonment length in-cludes prison sentences only.aIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined orwhose sentence was unknown. See Methodology for a listing of detailedoffense categories within each major offense category.
33.830.223.071.464.0Unknown or indeterminable offenses
11.610.011.19.812.3Misdemeanors b
54.451.551.043.042.0Other18.221.332.019.016.0Tax law violationb26.423.023.024.023.0Immigration
19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction
Table A.13. Offenders convicted and sentenced in U.S. district courts: Mean number of months ofimprisonment imposed, by offense, 1994-1998
Appendix 29
bIncludes offenders whose felony offense category could not be deter-mined. A felony offense category could not be determined for 70 of-fenders during 1994, 118 during 1995, 158 during 1996, and 264 dur-ing 1997.cIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; “Tax law violation”includes tax fraud; and "Misdemeanors" include misdemeanors, pettyoffenses, and unknown offense levels.
Note: Most serious offense of conviction is based on the offense withthe longest sentence imposed. Number of offenders includes offendersunder active supervision at the close of the fiscal year. This populationincludes offenders under the three major forms of supervision: probation, supervised release, and parole. Included under parole aretwo less common types of old law release: mandatory release and spe-cial parole. Excluded from the number of offenders under active supervi-sion reported in the table are offenders released to military parole and of-fenders under community supervision prior to sentencing (such as duringpretrial release or pretrial investigation).aIncludes offenders whose offense category could not be determined.See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense categories within eachmajor offense category.
10,98510,94711,33811,40213,092Misdemeanors c
5,3563,5523,4963,5233,425Other1,8591,8901,9782,1292,184Tax law violationc1,2721,4051,1809591,083Immigration4,0383,9083,8323,7313,924Weapons
10,87010,75510,48610,34210,616Other2,1962,1872,1042,1922,275Regulator y
19981997199619951994Most serious offense of conviction
Table A.14. Offenders under Federal supervision, 1994-1998
bIn this table, “Violent offenses” may include non-negligent manslaugh-ter and some non-violent sex offenses; “Fraudulent property” excludestax fraud; “Other non-fraudulent property” excludes fraudulent propertyand includes destruction of property and trespass; and “Tax law viola-tion” includes tax fraud.
Note: Most serious offense is based on the offense having the long-est sentence.aIncludes prisoners whose offense category could not bedetermined. See Methodology for a listing of detailed offense cate-gories within each major offense category.
1,8261,328947970940Unknown or indeterminable offenses
4,6534,2903,7893,5313,274Other376358347364364Tax law violationb