U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

Federal Criminal Case 
Processing, 1999
With trends 1982-99
Federal Justice Statistics: Reconciled Data


February 2001,NCJ 186180


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This report is one in a series.  More recent editions
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go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#fccprd
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This Bureau of Justice Statistics Report was 
prepared by the Urban Institute under the 
supervision of Steven K. Smith and John Scalia, 
Jr., of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). 
This report was prepared under BJS grant number 
98-BJ-CX-K015. Principal staff at the Urban 
Institute were William J. Sabol, William Adams, 
Avi Bhati, Barbara Parthasarathy, and Yan Yuan.  
Layout and design were by David Williams.  Tom 
Hester and Ellen Goldberg of BJS provided
editorial review.

This report is made possible through the 
cooperation of the following Federal agencies 
and their staffs:  The United States Marshals 
Service (USMS), the Administrative Office of 
the United States Courts (AOUSC), the Executive 
Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), and the 
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).  The staff who 
provided expert advice about the source records 
include: Joe Briggs (USMS); Steven Schlesinger and 
Catherine Whitaker (AOUSC); Siobhan Sperin and
Barbara Tone (EOUSA); and Gerald Gaes and Nancy 
Miller (BOP).

The contents of this document do not necessarily 
reflect the views or policies of the Bureau of 
Justice Statistics or the U.S. Department of 
Justice.

BJS authorizes any person to reproduce, publish, 
translate, or otherwise use all or any part of 
the material in this publication; citation to 
source, however, is appreciated.

An electronic version of this report and the 
data underlying graphics may be found on the 
BJS Internet Home Page (http://www.ojp.usdoj.
gov/bjs/).  The BJS-sponsored Federal
Justice Statistics Resource Center (FJSRC) 
Internet Home Page (http://fjsrc.urban.org) 
provides online access to the Federal
Justice database.  Users may download 
data from the Federal Justice database 
for independent analysis or use the 
online query system to quickly obtain 
customized statistics.

To order additional copies of this 
report or CD-ROMs containing the 
Federal Justice database, call the 
BJS Clearinghouse at 1-800-732-3277.

Contents

Highlights,

Indroduction

Federal criminal case processing, 1999

Tables and figures

Methodology, 

The Federal justice database
Table construction and interpretation
Offense classifications
Classification level
Estimations

Statistics appearing in Federal Criminal
Case Processing, 1999

Appendix
Tables
Highlights

Introduction

Federal criminal case processing, 1999


Tables and figures

Methodology

The Federal justice database
Table construction and interpretation
Offense classifications
Classification level
Estimations
Statistics appearing in Federal Criminal 
Case Processing, 1999

Appendix

Tables

Federal criminal case processing, 1999

October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999
Arrests for Federal offenses,
by offense

Suspects in criminal matters investi-
gated by U.S. attorneys, by offense

Disposition of suspects in matters 
concluded by U.S. attorneys,
by offense

Defendants in cases proceeded 
against in U.S. district courts,
by offense

Disposition of defendants in cases 
terminated in U.S. district courts,
by offense

Sanctions imposed on offenders 
convicted and sentenced in U.S. 
district courts, by offense

Criminal appeals filed, by type 
of criminal case and offense

Offenders under Federal supervi-
sion, by offense

Federal prison admissions and
releases, by offense

Methodology

Breakout of main category offenses

Source agencies for data tables in 
Federal Criminal Case Processing

Appendix

Suspects in criminal matters investi-
gated by U.S. attorneys, by offense, 
1994-99

Suspects in criminal matters
concluded by U.S. attorneys, by
offense, 1994-99

Suspects in criminal matters con-
cluded by U.S. attorneys:  Number 
prosecuted before U.S. district court 
judge, by offense, 1994-99

Suspects in criminal matters con-
cluded by U.S. magistrates, by
offense, 1994-99

Suspects in criminal matters con-
cluded by U.S. attorneys:  Number 
declined prosecution, by offense, 
1994-99

Defendants in cases proceeded 
against in U.S. district courts, by
offense, 1994-99

Defendants in cases terminating in 
U.S. district courts, by offense, 
1994-99

Defendants in cases terminating in 
U.S. district courts:  Percent con-
victed, by offense, 1994-99

Offenders convicted and sentenced 
in U.S. district courts, by offense, 
1994-99

Offenders convicted and sentenced 
in U.S. district courts:  Number sen-
tenced to prison, by offense, 
1994-99

Criminal appeals filed, by offense, 
1994-99

Offenders convicted and sentenced 
in U.S. district courts:  Number 
sentenced to probation only, by 
offense,  1994-99

Offenders convicted and sentenced 
in U.S. district courts:  Mean num-
ber of months of imprisonment
imposed, by offense, 1994-99

Offenders under Federal supervi-
sion, by offense, 1994-99

Population at the end of the year in 
Federal prisons, by offense, 
1994-99

Figures

Highlights

Federal criminal case proc-
essing, October 1, 1998 - 
September 30, 1999

Number of offenders under 
Federal correctional supervi-
sion, September 30, 1999

Federal criminal case processing, 1999

Number of suspects in crimi-
nal matters investigated by 
U.S. attorneys, by category 
of offense, 1982-99

Number of defendants in 
criminal cases terminated in 
U.S. district court, by cate-
gory of offense, 1982-99

Defendants convicted in U.S. 
district court:  Percentage 
sentenced to prison, by cate-
gory of offense, 1982-99

Number of offenders under 
Federal supervision, by type 
of supervision, 1987-99

U.S. district court commit-
ments and first releases from 
Federal prison, by expected 
or actual time in prison, 
1986-99

-----------------------------------------------
Highlights

*  During 1999, 109,452 offenders were arrested 
by Federal law enforcement agencies for possible 
violation of Federal law.  Almost 30% of all 
arrests were for drug offenses, a fifth (21%) for 
immigration offenses, 15% for property offenses, 
14% for supervision violations, 4% for violent 
offenses, and about 4% to secure and safeguard 
a material witness.

*  During 1999, U.S. attorneys initiated 
investigations involving 117,994 suspects 
for possible violations of Federal law.  
Almost a third (32%) of those investigated 
were suspected of a drug violation. 

*  Between 1994 and 1999, investigations 
initiated by U.S. attorneys have increased 
18.9% -- from 99,251 to 117,994.  Investiga-
tions for immigration violations increased 
from 5,526 to 15,539; for drug offenses, 
investigations increased from 29,311 to 
37,313.

*  During 1999, U.S. attorneys declined to 
prosecute a smaller proportion of those 
investigated, as declinations decreased from 
36% of matters concluded during 1994 to 27% 
during 1999.

*  Criminal charges were filed against 80,031 
defendants (felony and misdemeanor) in U.S. 
district courts during 1999 -- a 28% increase 
since 1994.

* During 1999 criminal cases involving 75,723
defendants were concluded in U.S. district
courts.  Of these, 87% were convicted.  Almost
all (95%) of those convicted pleaded guilty or
no contest.

*  Drug prosecutions have comprised an 
increasing proportion of the Federal 
criminal caseload -- from 21% of defendants 
in cases terminating in U.S. district court 
during 1982 to 36% during 1999.

*  Since implementation of the Sentencing 
Reform Act of 1984, the proportion of 
defendants sentenced to prison increased 
from 54% during 1988 to 72% during 1999.  
The proportion of drug offenders sentenced 
to prison increased from 79% to 92%.

*  Prison sentences imposed increased from 
55.1 months, on average, during 1988 to 
58.1 months during 1999.  For drug offenses, 
prison sentences increased from 71.3 months 
to 75.4 months; for weapon offenses, sentences 
imposed increased from 52.3 months to 99.5 
months.

*  Time expected to be served increased 
from 26.9 months, on average, for offenders 
admitted during 1988 to 44.8 months for 
offenders admitted during 1999.  For drug 
offenses, the amount of time an incoming 
offender could expect to serve increased from 
39.3 months to 61.8 months; for weapon offenses, 
expected time served increased from 32.4 months 
to 75.7 months.

*  During 1999 the U.S. Court of Appeals 
received 10,251 criminal appeals.  Forty-
seven percent of these appeals challenged 
both the conviction and the sentence imposed.

*  During 1999, 96,502 offenders were under 
Federal community supervision.  Supervised 
release has become the primary form of 
supervision in the Federal system:  61.8% of 
offenders were on supervised release compared 
to 32.9% on probation, and 5.3% remaining on 
parole.

*  On September 30, 1999, 119,185 offenders 
were serving a prison sentence in Federal 
prison; 57% were incarcerated for a drug offense; 
11% for a violent offense; 8% for a weapon 
offense; 7% for a property offense, 8% for an 
immigration offense; and 9% for all other 
offenses.
-------------------------------------------------

Introduction

Federal Criminal Case Processing, 
1999, second in an annual series, 
provides statistics that describe 
defendants processed at different 
stages of the Federal criminal 
justice system for the 12-month period 
ending September 30, 1999.  Also 
included are figures describing trends 
in Federal criminal case processing 
during the 1982-99 period.

The data presented are compiled 
from the BJS Federal justice database.  
The Federal justice database is 
comprised of data provided by the 
U.S. Marshals Service, the Executive 
Office for the U.S. Attorneys, the 
Administrative Office of the U.S. 
Courts, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, 
and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  
The Administrative Office of the U.S. 
Courts provides data describing the 
Federal court docket -- criminal, civil, 
and appellate -- as well as pretrial 
services, probation, parole, and 
supervised release.

The Federal justice database may be 
obtained electronically from the Federal 
Justice Statistics Resource Center website 
or on CD-ROM from the BJS Clearinghouse.  

Statistics presented in this report 
include the number of suspects arrested 
by Federal law enforcement agencies for 
violations of Federal law, the number 
of suspects investigated by U.S. attorneys 
for possible violations of Federal law, 
the outcome of U.S. attorney investigations 
(prosecution or declination), the number 
of defendants prosecuted in U.S. district 
courts, the outcome of criminal cases 
(convicted, not convicted), sanctions imposed 
on defendants convicted (type of sentence 
imposed and length of imprisonment), the 
number and type of criminal appeals filed, 
and the number of offenders under Federal 
correctional supervision -- prison, probation, 
parole, and supervised release.  A related 
publication, the Compendium of Federal 
Justice Statistics, provides more detail 
on many of the statistics presented in 
this report -- including statistics on up 
to 40 offense categories and statistics on 
additional case processing concepts such 
as pretrial release and demographic 
characteristics of offenders.

Several case processing statistics 
presented in this report have previously 
been reported by the agencies.  However, 
because individual agencies use different 
criteria to collect, tabulate, and report 
on case processing events, statistics 
published by each of the agencies 
may not be directly comparable.  In this 
report, BJS has attempted to reconcile 
differences in data collection and 
reporting in order to present comparable 
statistics across stages of the Federal 
criminal justice system.  For a description 
of the reconciliation effort and the 
methodology employed, see Comparing 
Case Processing Statistics (NCJ 169274) 
and Reconciling Federal Criminal Case 
Processing Statistics (NCJ 171680).

Since many terms and concepts used in 
this report have specialized meanings -- 
either because they refer to specific 
provisions of Federal law or they refer 
to procedures used by agencies supplying 
the data -- readers are encouraged to 
reference the glossary of the Compendium 
of Federal Justice Statistics for 
definitions of concepts.

Modifications to Federal Criminal Case 
Processing, 1999

In Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1999, 
a new detailed offense category, Nonviolent 
sex offenses, was introduced and is 
classified under the larger Public-order 
offenses category.  Included in this new 
category are offenses such as pornography 
and prostitution.  Formerly, such offenses 
had been included under the detailed offense 
category Other sex offenses, which was 
classified under Violent offenses. Therefore, 
comparisons between tables in this report
and tables in the 1998 report must be made 
with this reclassification in mind.

Federal criminal case processing, 1999
 
Tables

October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999

Arrests for Federal offenses, by offense

Suspects in criminal matters investigated
by U.S. attorneys, by offense

Disposition of suspects in matters con
by U.S. attorneys, by offense

Defendants in cases proceeded against
in U.S. district courts, by offense

Disposition of defendants in cases
terminated in U.S. district courts, 
by offense

Sanctions imposed on offenders convict
and sentenced in U.S. district courts,
by offense

Criminal appeals filed, by type of cri
case and offense

Offenders under Federal supervision,
by offense

Federal prison admissions and releases
by offense
 
Figures
 
Number of suspects in criminal matters
investigated by U.S. attorneys, by 
category of offense, 1982-99

Number of defendants in criminal cases
terminated in U.S. district court, by
category of offense, 1982-99

Defendants convicted in U.S. district
court: Percentage sentenced to prison, 
by category of offense, 1982-99

Number of offenders under Federal super-
vision, by type of supervision, 1987-99

U.S. district court commitments and first
releases from Federal prison, by expected 
or actual time in prison, 1986-99

Methodology

The Federal justice database

Source of data

The source of data for all tables 
in Federal Criminal Case Processing 
is the Bureau of Justice Statistics 
(BJS) Federal justice database.  
The database is presently constructed 
from source files provided by the 
U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), Executive 
Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), 
the Administrative Office of the U.S. 
Courts (AOUSC), and the Federal Bureau 
of Prisons (BOP).  AOUSC also maintains 
the data collected by the U.S. Court of 
Appeals and the Federal Probation and 
Supervision Information System (FPSIS).  
Federal law prohibits the use of these 
files for any purpose other than research 
or statistics.  A description of the 
source agency data files is provided in 
table M.2 at the end of this section.

Data universe

The universe of the BJS Federal justice 
database includes criminal suspects 
investigated for violations of Federal 
criminal law, criminal suspects arrested 
for violations of Federal criminal law, 
defendants in cases filed in U.S. district 
courts, and offenders entering Federal 
corrections and correctional supervision.  

The universe of criminal suspects 
arrested is all suspects arrested by 
the Federal law enforcement agencies 
(including the USMS), state agencies, 
and self-reported arrests and 
transferred to the custody of the U.S. 
Marshals Service for processing, 
transportation, and detention. 

The universe of criminal suspects is 
limited to those whose matters were 
investigated by U.S. attorneys 
and in which the investigation took 
at least one hour of a U.S. attorney's 
time.  

The universe of defendants in Federal 
criminal courts is limited to those 
defendants whose cases were filed 
in a U.S. district court, whether 
before a U.S. district court judge or 
a U.S. magistrate.  This includes 
all felony defendants, Class A 
misdemeanant defendants, and those 
defendants charged with petty offenses 
and handled by a U.S. district court 
judge.

The universe of offenders includes 
all sentenced offenders entering 
Federal prison regardless of the 
source of their commitment (e.g., 
U.S. district court, State court, or 
military court, or return from a 
violation of conditions of supervision) 
or length of sentence.  This may include 
some offenders who were convicted of 
immigration offenses who were 
committed for petty offenses.  

The universe of supervised offenders includes 
persons entering and exiting terms of Federal 
supervision, and persons under Federal supervision 
during the fiscal year.  Supervision types include 
probation, parole, and supervised release.  Included 
amongst parole supervisees are those under two less 
common types of "old law" supervision (sentenced 
prior to the implementation of the Sentencing 
Reform Act of 1984):  mandatory release and 
special release.  

The universe of suspects, defendants, and 
offenders varies from table to table in this 
report, depending on the definition of the 
statistic reported and the source of the data.

Reporting period

Wherever possible, matters or cases have been 
selected according to some event which 
occurred during fiscal year 1999 (October 1, 1998, 
through September 30, 1999).  Some data files 
provided by source agencies are organized 
according to a calendar year time frame; these 
have been combined and divided into fiscal years 
for purposes of this report.  Files which are 
organized by their source agencies according 
to fiscal year nonetheless include some 
pertinent records in later years' files.  For 
example, tabulations of suspects in matters 
concluded during fiscal year 1999 have been 
assembled from source files containing records 
of 1999 matters concluded which were entered 
into the data system during fiscal years 1998 or 
1999. 

In the figures showing trends in Federal criminal 
case processing, information is presented for a 
period between 1982 and 1999.  Data from the 
EOUSA are estimated from 1982  through 1993, 
as data prior to 1993 included appeals information 
not included in the subsequent years.   Because 
of changes in the reporting and collection of data 
over time, data collected prior to 1994 from 
AOUSC and EOUSA were reported on a 
calendar-year basis; data collected from 
1994-1999 are on a fiscal-year basis.  The 
figures are marked and noted according to 
the period of measurement.  In figure 4, data 
collected from FPSIS reflect the supervised 
population as of June 30 for the period of 
1987-1994, and the population as of 
September 30 for the period of 1995-1999.  
In figure 5, data collected from BOP, presented 
from 1985-1999, are reported on a fiscal-year 
basis.

Table construction and 
interpretation

Universe in each table

The universe in table 1 is suspects arrested for 
violations of Federal criminal law and transferred 
to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The universe in tables 2 and 3, and figure 1 
is suspects in criminal matters investigated by 
U.S. attorneys.  A person appearing in multiple 
matters will be counted separately for each 
matter.  Matters include criminal proceedings 
handled exclusively by U.S. attorneys, or in 
which U.S. attorneys provided assistance 
and spent at least one hour of time.  

The universe in tables 4, 5, and 6, as 
well as figures 2 and 3, is defendants 
adjudicated and sentenced in U.S. district 
court.  Included are defendants charged 
with felonies, Class A and B misdemeanors, 
and petty offenses if the petty offenses are 
handled by U.S. district court judges.  
Defendants who appear in more than one 
case are counted separately for each distinct 
case in which they appear.  Defendants may 
have been charged under "old law" 
(pre-Sentencing Reform Act) or "new law" 
(post-Sentencing Reform Act) standards.

The universe in table 7 is criminal appeals 
filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals.  Appeals 
filed include both Preguidelines- and 
Guidelines-based appeals.  The Sentencing 
Reform Act allowed for the appeal of 
sentences imposed, where previously only 
the conviction could be appealed.

The universe in table 8 and figure 4 is offenders 
entering, exiting, or under active supervision.  
Active supervision includes supervisees who 
report regularly to their supervising officers.  
Excluded are offenders released to military 
parole and offenders who are under community 
release prior to sentencing.  

The universe in table 9 and figure 5 is sentenced 
Federal offenders committed into Federal prison 
facilities -- regardless of the court from which 
they were committed and regardless of the length 
of sentence.  This includes primarily offenders 
committed from U.S. district courts by U.S. district 
court judges, but also includes those committed by 
U.S. magistrates, military courts, and some State 
courts.  In addition, it includes offenders 
who violated conditions of supervised release and 
who were returned to prison for their violations 
rather than from a court commitment.

Unit of analysis

The unit of analysis in tables 1 through 7 is a 
combination of a person (or corporation) and 
a matter or case.  For example, if a single person 
is involved in three different criminal cases during 
the time period specified in the table, he or she is 
counted three times in the tabulation.  Similarly, if 
a single criminal case involves a corporate 
defendant and four individual defendants, it counts 
five times in the tabulation.  

In tables 8 and 9, the unit of analysis for 
incarceration, probation, parole, or other 
supervised release is a person entering custody 
or supervision, or a person leaving custody 
or supervision.  For example, a person convicted 
in two concurrent cases and committed once to the 
custody of the BOP in the indicated time period is 
counted as one admission to a term of incarceration.  
A person who leaves a BOP facility, reenters, and 
leaves again in the same fiscal-year period would 
be counted as one admission and two releases.  
A person who terminates probation twice in the 
indicated time period, such as with a violation and 
again after reinstatement, is counted as two 
terminations of probation.

Interpretation

The data presented in this report are a 
statistical presentation of offenders 
processed in the Federal criminal justice 
system.  The tables presented describe 
the number of offenders processed and 
the outcome of that processing at each 
stage of the Federal criminal justice system.  
Because many tables represent 
different cross-sections of offenders, 
comparisons across tables are not 
necessarily valid.

Offense classifications

Procedure

The offense classification procedure used in 
this report is based on the classification system 
followed by the AOUSC.  Specific offenses in 
the AOUSC classification are combined to 
form the BJS categories shown in this report's 
tables.*(These categories correspond to the
BJS crime definitions and, to the extent possi-
ble, are organized and presented consistent
with BJS publications on State criminal justice
systems.)*  

For data from USMS offense categories 
are based on the FBI's National Crime Information 
Center (NCIC) offense classifications, which are 
converted into U.S. Marshals' four digit offense 
codes.  These offense codes are then aggregated 
into the offense categories shown in table 1. 

For data from EOUSA, which include U.S. Code 
citations but do not include the AOUSC offense 
classifications, U.S. Code titles and sections 
are translated into the AOUSC classification 
system and then aggregated into the offense 
categories used in the tables.  Offense categories 
for prisoners in table 9 are based on combinations 
of offense designations used by BOP.  They are 
similar to the categories in other tables, but may 
not be directly comparable.

Felony/misdemeanor distinctions

Felony and misdemeanor distinctions are provided 
where possible.  Felony offenses are those with 
a maximum penalty of more than 1 year in prison.  
Misdemeanor offenses are those with a maximum 
penalty of 1 year or less.  Felonies and 
misdemeanors are further classified using the 
maximum term of imprisonment authorized.  
Section 3559, U.S. Code, Title 18 classifies 
offenses according to the following schedule:

Felonies
Class A felony -- life imprisonment, or if the 
maximum penalty is death.
Class B felony -- 25 years or more.
Class C felony  -- less than 25 years but more 
than 10 years.
Class D felony  -- less than 10 years but more 
than 5 years.
Class E felony --  less than 5 years but more 
than 1 year.

Misdemeanors
Class A misdemeanor -- 1 year or less but more 
than 1 month.
Class B misdemeanor -- 6 months or less but more 
than 30 days.
Class C misdemeanor -- 30 days or less but more 
than 5 days.
Infraction -- 5 days or less, or if no imprisonment 
is authorized. 

In this report, felony and misdemeanor distinctions 
are provided where the data permit these distinctions.  
Tables 1, 2, and 3 do not use this distinction 
because many suspects cannot be so classified at the 
investigation stage in the criminal justice process.  
Table 7 does not use this distinction because the 
Court of Appeals data do not allow for such a breakout.  
Table 9 does not use this distinction because BOP 
offense categories do not allow for such a breakout.  
None of the figures showing trend data report this 
distribution.

Figures 2 and 3 display data by major offense category 
but do not show the felony/misdemeanor distinction.  
Therefore, the data points for major offense categories 
represented on the trend lines will not match the data 
in Appendix tables A.7, A.9, and A.10, respectively, nor 
will the 1999 data points match the data for major offense 
categories in tables 5 and 6.

Classification level

Offenses in the tables in this report are classified, at 
the most general level, into felony and misdemeanor 
categories.  Felonies are then broken out by four main 
level offense classifications:  violent, property, drug, 
and public-order offenses.  Property and public-order 
offenses are broken out into two sublevels.  The 
main-level and sub-group categories are composed 
of individual offense types.  Where the data source 
allows, drug offenses are broken out into the individual 
offense level.  "Other public-order offenses" include 
a limited breakout at the individual offense type level.  
Table M.1 shows a list of specific offenses under 
each offense category.

Offense categories

For offenses referred to in table M.1, the following 
conditions apply:

"Murder" includes nonnegligent manslaughter.
     
"Sexual abuse" includes only violent sex offenses.  
Nonviolent sex offenses, such as prostitution, are 
included in a separate category, "Nonviolent sex 
offenses."  Including nonviolent sex offenses in a 
separate category is a change from previous years' 
reports and therefore the 1999 tables are not directly 
comparable with the appendix tables in this report, 
or with older editions of this report. 

"Fraud" excludes tax fraud.

"Larceny" excludes transportation of stolen property.

"Other property felonies" excludes fraudulent 
property offenses, and includes destruction of property 
and trespass.

"Tax law violations" includes tax fraud.

"Obscene material" denotes the mail or transport thereof.

"All other felonies" includes felonies with unclassifiable 
offense type.

"Misdemeanors" includes misdemeanors, petty offenses, 
and unknown offense levels.

"Drug possession" also includes other drug misdemeanors.

Most serious offense selection

Where more than one offense is charged or adjudicated, 
the most serious offense (the one that may or did result 
in the most severe sentence) is used to classify offenses.  

The offense description may change as the criminal 
justice process proceeds.  Tables indicate whether 
investigated, charged, or adjudicated offenses are 
used.  

In tables 2 and 3, the most serious offense is based 
on the criminal lead charge as determined by the 
assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the criminal 
proceeding.

In tables 4 and 5, the most serious offense charged 
is the one that has the most severe potential sentence. 

For table 6, conviction offenses are based on the 
disposition offenses having the most severe penalty.

In table 7, an offense is classified into the category 
that represents the underlying offense of conviction, 
based on the disposition offense with the most severe 
sentence.

In table 8, the most serious offense of conviction 
is either the one having the longest sentence imposed 
or, if equal sentences were imposed or there was no 
imprisonment, it was the offense carrying the highest 
severity code as determined by AOUSC's offense severity 
code ranking.

In table 9, prisoners are classified according to the 
offense which bears the longest single incarceration 
sentence.

Estimations

Several methods were used to estimate the trend data 
in this report.

Estimated number of suspects in criminal matters

Because of a change in the reporting protocol for 
information received from the EOUSA effective with 
fiscal year 1994 data, it was necessary to estimate 
certain statistics for years 1982-1993.  Prior to 1994, 
reports of the number of suspects in criminal matters 
included appellants in Federal criminal appeals.  
Because full-source agency data prior to 1994 could 
not be accessed, an estimation procedure was used 
to estimate the number of appellants within main 
offense categories and then subtract them from 
the number of suspects in criminal matters which 
included appellants.  The procedure is described 
in the following paragraphs. 

The objective was to estimate the number 
of appellants included in reports of the number 
of suspects in criminal matters.  This is denoted 
below as AEO.

Using existing data on appellants derived from 
alternative sources, such as AOUSC reports, an 
estimator was developed based on the assumption 
that the ratio of appellants to defendants plus 
appellants in the EOUSA data was equal to the 
observed ratio of appellants to appellants plus 
defendants in the AOUSC data, or:

        A (AO)                      A (EO)
  --------------------   =   --------------------
    [A (AO) + D (AO)]            [A(EO) + D(EO)]         

where:
A (AO) = number of AO appellants
D (AO) = number of AO defendants
A (EO) = number of EO appellants
D (EO) = number of EO defendants

Solving for A(EO) yields:

           A (AO)
[A(EO) =  --------    x [A(EO)+D(EO)]
        [A(AO)+D(AO)]

Solving for AEO yields the estimator above.  
This estimator was used to produce estimates each 
year between 1982 and 1993 using data from 
these years.  The estimated number of appellants 
in suspects in criminal matters was subtracted from 
the reported number to derive the estimated number 
of suspects in criminal matters.  These were used 
in figure 1.  These estimates were done at the level 
of offense category (violent, property, drugs, and 
public-order).

Estimated expected time to be served for 
offenders entering prison 

The methodology for estimating expected time to 
be served to first release for prisoners entering 
the BOP system from a district court commitment 
involves grouping prisoners by their fiscal 
year of entry.  Once this grouping has 
occurred, each prisoner is classified into 
one of the following categories:

a) prisoner who has been released by the end 
of the observation window (1985-99);

b) a prisoner still incarcerated at the end of 
the observation window who was sentenced prior 
to the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act 
of 1984 (an "old law" prisoner);

c) a prisoner still incarcerated at the end of 
the observation window who was sentenced after 
to the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act 
(a "new law" prisoner).

For prisoners in category (a) actual time served 
is recorded.  For those prisoners in category 
(b), an estimate of time to be served is used, 
based on the mean time served by similar 
prisoners in previous entering years (1985-98).  
For prisoners in category (c) sentenced to 
more than 1 year, time to be served is 87% 
of the sentence imposed, which is the minimum 
sentence to be served under the Sentencing 
Reform Act.  For prisoners in category 
(c) sentenced to 1 year or less, time to 
be served is equal to the sentence imposed.

Statistics appearing in Federal 
Criminal Case Processing, 1999

The statistics appearing in this report 
are as follows:

Suspects arrested
 
This is the number of suspects arrested by 
Federal law enforcement agencies for violations 
of Federal law and transferred to the custody 
of the U.S. Marshals Service for booking and 
pretrial detention.  Not included are suspects 
arrested by Federal agencies and transferred 
directly to the custody of a State prosecutor.

Suspects in matters investigated by U.S. attorneys

This is the number of suspects in criminal matters 
whom U.S. attorneys spent at least one hour 
investigating.  It excludes suspects whose matters 
were immediately declined or whose matters were 
received via transfer from another district.  An 
immediate declination is one in which a U.S. 
attorney declines to prosecute a criminal matter 
without investigating the matter.  Suspects may 
include persons, corporations, or other legal entities.  
Matters are limited to criminal matters investigated 
by U.S. attorneys or matters in which U.S. attorneys 
assisted in the investigation.  Suspects appearing 
in more than one matter are counted separately 
for each matter.

Suspects in matters concluded by U.S. attorneys

This is the number of suspects in criminal matters 
concluded by U.S. attorneys, regardless of the 
year in which the criminal matter was opened.  
A matter is defined as concluded when a U.S. 
attorney files a case in a U.S. district court before 
a U.S. district court judge, when a U.S. attorney 
declines to prosecute the matter, or when a 
misdemeanor case is concluded before a U.S. 
magistrate.  The table excludes suspects whose 
matter was declined immediately or whose 
matter was concluded by transfer.  Suspects 
in matters concluded may include persons, 
corporations, or other legal entities and are 
limited to the suspects investigated or prosecuted 
by U.S. attorneys, or in which U.S. attorneys 
assisted in the investigation or prosecution. 
Suspects appearing in more than one matter 
are counted separately for each matter.

Defendants in cases commenced

This is the number of defendants in cases 
proceeded in U.S. district court, either before 
a U.S. district court judge or a U.S. magistrate.  
Proceedings are initiated on or after the date 
a case is filed in a U.S. district court.  Included 
in the count are defendants in cases handled 
by U.S. district court judges plus Class A 
misdemeanors, whether handled by a U.S. 
district court judge or a U.S. magistrate.  Also 
included are defendants in cases involving petty 
offenses (Class B or C misdemeanors) if they 
were handled by U.S. district court judges.  These 
cases included all cases commenced regardless 
of the source of prosecution -- U.S. attorneys or 
Department of Justice.  Excluded from this count 
are defendants whose cases were opened by 
transfer from another district (e.g., a Rule 20 or 
Rule 40 transfer).  Defendants appearing in 
more than one case are counted separately in 
each case. 

Defendants in cases terminated

This is the number of defendants whose cases 
were terminated in U.S. district court.  A case 
is terminated if a defendant is found not guilty, 
the charges are dismissed, or when a defendant 
is sentenced, if he or she was convicted.  Included 
in the count are defendants in cases handled 
by U.S. district court judges plus Class A 
misdemeanors, whether handled by a U.S. 
district court judge or a U.S. magistrate.  
Also included are defendants in cases involving 
petty offenses (Class B or C misdemeanors) 
if they were handled by U.S. district court judges.  
These cases included all cases commenced 
regardless of the source of prosecution -- U.S. 
attorneys or Department of Justice.  Excluded 
from this count are defendants whose cases 
were opened by transfer from another district 
(e.g., a Rule 20 or Rule 40 transfer).  Defendants 
appearing in more than one case are counted 
separately in each case. 

Defendants are classified as convicted if they 
pleaded guilty, nolo contendere, or if they are 
found guilty at trial.  Defendants convicted by 
trial included those found guilty by reason of 
insanity.  Defendants not convicted includes 
defendants whose cases were dismissed and 
those who were acquitted or found not guilty 
at trial.

Defendants sentenced

This is the number of defendants sentenced in 
U.S. district court.  Included are defendants 
sentenced in cases handled by U.S. district 
court judges plus Class A misdemeanors, 
whether handled by a U.S. district court judge 
or a U.S. magistrate.  Also included are 
defendants sentenced for petty offenses 
(Class B or C misdemeanors) if they were 
handled by U.S. district court judges.  
These cases included all cases commenced 
regardless of the source of prosecution 
-- U.S. attorneys or Department of Justice.  
Excluded from this count are defendants whose 
cases were opened by transfer from another 
district (e.g., a Rule 20 or Rule 40 transfer).  
Defendants appearing in more than one case are 
counted separately in each case.

The sanctions shown in table 5 include 
imprisonment only, mixed sentences of 
prison plus supervision, probation, and fine 
only.  Imprisonment is limited to defendants 
receiving terms of imprisonment but no 
probation, including life and death sentences, 
but excluding suspended sentences or 
sentences to fewer than 4 days.  New 
law offenders receiving prison-community 
split sentences (prison and conditions of 
alternative community confinement) are also 
included.  Mixed sentences include 
defendants given sentences of both prison 
and probation (applies to offenders sentenced 
under "old law" standards only).  Probation 
includes defendants given sentences of 
probation.  Defendants who received probation 
plus conditions of confinement such as 
intermittent confinement, home detention, 
or community confinement are classified under 
probation.  Fine only includes defendants who 
received only a fine.  Other sentences include 
sealed sentences, prison sentences of 4 days or 
less, deportations, and cases in which the 
defendant was convicted but not given a sentence.  
The statistics on mean and median prison sentences 
are based on the number given prison exclusive of 
life and death sentences.  For offenders given 
prison-community split sentences, only the prison 
sentence length is included in the calculation.

Criminal appeals filed

This table reports the number of criminal appeals 
filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals.  Prior to 
implementation of the Sentencing Reform Act 
of 1984, only criminal convictions could be appealed.  
However, the Sentencing Reform Act provided for 
the appellate review of sentences imposed given 
that the sentence was (1) imposed in violation of 
the law; (2) imposed as the result of an incorrect 
sentencing guideline application; (3) outside the 
recommended guideline sentencing range; 
or (4) imposed for an offense for which no 
sentencing guideline exists and is plainly 
unreasonable.  Both the defendant and the 
Government have the right to appeal an 
imposed sentence (18 U.S.C. Sec. 3742).

Offenders under Federal Supervision

This table reports the number of offenders 
under active supervision at the close of 
the fiscal year.  It includes offenders under 
three forms of supervision:  probation, 
supervised release, and parole.  Included 
in parole supervisees are those under two 
less common types of "old law" (sentenced 
prior to the implementation of the Sentencing 
Reform Act of 1984), mandatory release and 
special release.  The unit of analysis is a 
unique person released on supervision.

Prisoners

This table reports the number of sentenced 
Federal offenders committed into the custody 
of the BOP, released from this custody, or 
in Federal prison.  "Into the custody of" 
includes prisoners in BOP facilities plus 
contract facilities.  Contract facilities 
generally house offenders prior to release 
from prison.  Sentenced offenders include 
felony, misdemeanor, and petty offenders 
sentenced to prison regardless of the 
judge -- U.S. district court judge or U.S. 
magistrate -- who sentenced the offender.  
The unit of analysis is a unique 
person in Federal prison.  The unit of 
count for prisoner movements is based on 
admissions and releases into and from 
Federal prison.  A unique person may appear 
more than once in a column showing admissions 
and releases if that person was admitted or 
released from Federal prison more than once 
during the reporting period.

Included in the counts of district court 
commitments are offenders sentenced from 
district courts.  This includes some 
offenders sentenced by U.S. magistrates.  
Other admissions include offenders committed 
from other courts and offenders returning 
to prison for violations of conditions of 
supervised release.  A first release is 
defined as a release from a district court 
commitment.  Other releases include releases 
of offenders who were serving terms for 
violating conditions of supervised 
release -- offenders who were committed 
on other than a district court commitment.

End of file
02/20/01 ih