United States Sentencing Commission highlights 30th edition of Sourcebook and interactive data tool

The United States Sentencing Commission marked the 30th edition of its Sourcebook of federal sentencing statistics, highlighting more than 40 years of data collection and reporting. The commission’s Office of Research and Data, which the presentation identified as leading the work, provides social science expertise and maintains data access tools for researchers and the public.

The narrator said Congress established the commission in 1984 and designated data collection and reporting as a core statutory mission. The commission’s research and data unit published its first set of annual sentencing statistics as part of its annual report; by 1996 the caseload had grown from about 8,000 to roughly 42,000, and the commission published an inaugural Sourcebook that year to serve as a clearinghouse for federal sentencing information.

The presentation cited Supreme Court decisions, including United States v. Booker, as increasing the commission’s reporting needs. In 2013 the commission began developing an interactive Sourcebook, and the 2018 print edition added new chapters and full-color figures and charts. The launch of the interactive data analyzer in 2019 expanded public access to more detailed and customizable sentencing data.

The commission said it continues to add information to the interactive tool, most recently criminal history and demographic data, and encouraged users to visit the Sourcebook or interactive data analyzer to explore and customize the latest dataset, which the presentation said covers sentencing records for more than 66,000 individuals.