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COMPASSIONATE RELEASE GRANT RATES HOLD STEADY
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Fiscal Year 2024 preliminary data on compassionate release motions filed pursuant to 18 USC § 3582(c)(1)(A), released last week, show that for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, the national rate for grants of such motions (out of a total of 2,901 ruled on) was 16.1%.
This number represents an improvement over FY 2023 (13.8% of 3,140) and a very slight improvement over the cumulative average of the 15.9% grant rate since the First Step Act – which gave prisoners the right to file their own motions instead of limiting such filings to the whims of the Federal Bureau of Prisons – became law in December 2018.
Significant numbers of compassionate release motions only began to be filed when COVID-19 struck in late March 2020. Grant rates started out at 35% in April 2020, but fell to a 16.9% average by the end of that year.
The latest data show that in FY 2024, drug offenders got 55% of the compassionate release grants, followed by robbery offenders (14 %). People with Criminal History VI – the most serious criminal history category – received 37% of the grants, followed by those with the best criminal histories, Criminal History I, with 23%.
The Commission also reported that of 12,366 USSG Amendment 821 Part A movants – seeking a lower sentence because they previously had a higher Criminal History Category for being on probation, parole or supervised release when they committed their current offense (“status-point” offenders) – 35.9% have been granted. Of the 9,649 USSG Amendment 821 Part B movants seeking a lower sentence because they had absolutely no prior criminal offenses (zero criminal history points), 30.9 pct have been granted.
For status-point offenders, 44.9% had drug charges and 24.7% had firearms offenses. For zero-point movants, 78.6% are doing time for drugs, with fraud offenses in second place at 10.2%.
USSC, Compassionate Release Data Report (Preliminary FY 2024 Cumulative Data) (October 17, 2024)
USSC, Part A of the 2023 Criminal History Amendment Retroactivity Data Report (October 17, 2024)
USSC, Part B of the 2023 Criminal History Amendment Retroactivity Data Report (October 17, 2024)
– Thomas L. Root