We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

SENTENCING COMMISSION DISCOVERS WOMEN ARE LOCKED UP, TOO

The Sentencing Commission issued one of its regular “Quick Facts” reports last week on women in federal custody. The “quick facts” series, started five years ago as a way to give the USSC’s short-attention-span readers (which includes most of Congress) “basic facts about a single area of federal crime in an easy-to-read, two-page format,” are issued several times a year. This is the first report focusing on women in federal custody.

The report notes that for the period Oct. 2016 through Sept. 2017:

• Women made up 13.1% of federal prisoners, a slight decrease from 2013, when they were 13.3% of offenders;

• 68.0% of female federal prisoners were Criminal History Category I when sentenced;

• women used weapons less frequently (6.1% of cases) than do men (10.1%);

• 76.9% of convicted women were sentenced to imprisonment, less than the 93.8% rate for men

•  women offenders were sentenced within the guideline range 36.6% of the time, compared to 49.8% of the time for men; and

•   the average sentence for women was 28 months in 2017, compared to 27 months in 2013.

U.S. Sentencing Commission, Women in the Federal Offender Population (July 3, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root