UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION

Overview of Federal Criminal Cases

Fiscal Year 2013
Patti B. Saris

Chair

Ricardo H. Hinojosa

Vice Chair

Ketanji B. Jackson

Vice Chair

Charles R. Breyer

Vice Chair

Dabney L. Friedrich

Commissioner

Rachel E. Barkow

Commissioner

William H. Pryor, Jr.

Commissioner

Isaac Fulwood, Jr.

Ex Officio

Jonathan J. Wroblewski

Ex Officio

Kenneth P. Cohen

Staff Director

Glenn R. Schmitt

Director

Office of Research and Data

Louis Reedt

Deputy Director

Office of Research and Data

August 2014

United States Sentencing Commission

One Columbus Circle, N.E.

Washington, DC 20002

www.ussc.gov
Glenn R. Schmitt

Elizabeth Jones

Office of Research and Data

Overview of Federal

Criminal Cases

Fiscal Year 2013

The United States Sentencing Commission1 received information

on 80,207 federal criminal cases in which the offender was

sentenced in fiscal year 2013.2 Among these cases, 80,035

involved an individual offender and 172 involved a corporation or

other “organizational” offender. This publication provides a brief

overview of those cases.

The Case Load at a Glance

The vast majority of federal cases involve an individual defendant.

Over the last decade, the number of these cases has generally

increased each year, however, in fiscal year 2013 the number of

these cases reported to the Commission3 fell by 4,138 (4.9%), the

second consecutive year in which the number of individual

offender cases declined. Since fiscal year 2011, the year in which

the largest number of cases was reported to the Commission, the

number of these cases has declined by 7.0 percent.

Glenn R. Schmitt is Director of the Office of Research and Data at the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Elizabeth Jones is a research associate in the Office of Research and Data.
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United States Sentencing Commission

For the last decade, cases involving drugs, immigration, firearms,

or fraud have been the most common federal crimes and comprise

the vast majority of federal felonies and Class A misdemeanors. In

fiscal year 2013, these crimes accounted for 82.3 percent of all

cases reported to the Commission.

For the last five years, immigration cases have comprised the

largest single type of serious federal offenses. In fiscal year 2013,

however, drug crimes regained their historical place as the most

common federal offenses. In fiscal year 2013, 25,000 drug cases

were reported to the Commission, accounting for 31.2 percent of all

cases. Most of these cases involved drug trafficking offenses.

Immigration cases also accounted for 31.2 percent of the total

federal caseload in fiscal year, despite a second annual decrease

in the number of these cases. In fiscal year 2013, there were 1,576

fewer immigration cases than the prior year, a 5.9 percent decline.

Cases involving drugs,

immigration, firearms, or

fraud accounted for

82.3 percent of all cases

reported to the

Commission.
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Overview of Federal Criminal Cases – Fiscal Year 2013

Even with this decrease, the number of immigration cases has

increased by 58.9 percent over the past decade.

The number of firearms cases reported to the Commission in fiscal

year 2013 (8,068) was virtually unchanged from the prior year.

These cases were 10.1 percent of the caseload, about the same

portion of the overall caseload that they represented in fiscal year

2009. There were 7,840 fraud cases reported in fiscal year 2013,

accounting for 9.8 percent of the total federal caseload; however,

this number represents a 9.2 percent reduction from the year

before.

Individual Offender Characteristics

In fiscal year 2013, 44.9 percent of all offenders were non-citizens,

about the same rate as five years ago (44.7% in fiscal year 2009).

Most non-citizens offenders committed either an immigration

offense (67.0%) or a drug trafficking offense (17.0%).

The vast majority of criminal offenders are men, and their

proportion of the total offender population has remained constant

for more than a decade. In fiscal year 2013, 86.5 percent of all

offenders were men, compared with 87.1 percent in fiscal year

2009, and 86.3 percent in fiscal year 2004. Among female

offenders, the most common crime was drug trafficking (committed

by 31.4% of all women offenders). Embezzlement was the only
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United States Sentencing Commission

crime for which female offenders outnumbered male offenders

(57.1% to 42.9%).

In fiscal year 2013, 51.5 percent of all federal offenders were

Hispanic, while 23.8 percent were White and 20.6 percent were

Black. However, the racial composition of offenders varied widely

across offense types, and most Hispanic offenders (84.2%) were

sentenced for one of two types of offenses — immigration or drug

trafficking crimes. Even among drug offenders, racial and ethnic

background varied depending on the type of drug involved in the

crime.

The average age of offenders in fiscal year 2013 was 36-years old,

representing a gradual increase over the past decade (from

34-years-old in fiscal year 2004 and 35-years-old in fiscal year

2009). The number of offenders age 30 or younger steadily

decreased over the past decade while those age 31 and older

steadily increased.

Almost half of all federal offenders sentenced in fiscal year 2013

(47.2%) had not completed high school, and only 5.7 percent of

offenders had completed college.
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Overview of Federal Criminal Cases – Fiscal Year 2013

Case Disposition

The vast majority of offenders plead guilty. In fiscal year 2013,

96.9 percent of all convicted defendants pleaded guilty. Of those

who did, 46.9 percent received a sentence below the applicable

sentencing guideline range, either at the request of the

government, at their own request, or initiated by the court.

Approximately 60 percent (61.3%) of these below range sentences

were requested by the government, usually because the defendant

had provided substantial assistance to the government or had

agreed to have his or her case handled as part of an early

disposition program. In comparison, in the 3.1 percent of cases

where the offender did not plead guilty, 41.3 percent received a

sentence below the guideline range, although only 7.6 percent of

these below range sentences were requested by the government.

Most federal offenders convicted of a felony or Class A

misdemeanor receive a sentence of incarceration. In fiscal year

2013, an imprisonment sentence was imposed on 87.6 percent of

all offenders. Another 7.1 percent of offenders received a

sentence of probation (i.e., where no type of confinement was

imposed), a rate that has decreased over time from a high of 14.8

percent in 1993. Among those offenders not sentenced to one of

these two types of sentence, 2.6 percent were sentenced to

periods of both probation and some type of confinement and 2.8

percent were sentenced to a combination of imprisonment and

community confinement, such as in a half-way house or through

home confinement.

87.6 percent of federal

offenders were sentenced

to imprisonment.
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United States Sentencing Commission

The length of imprisonment imposed on offenders varies greatly

depending on the seriousness of the offense and the criminal

history of the offender. Offenders committing murder received the

longest terms of confinement in fiscal year 2013, at 268 months on

average. Crimes involving violations of environment and wildlife

statutes were punished least severely, with offenders receiving

confinement sentences of four months, on average.

Overall, 70.8 percent of offenders received a sentence of less than

five years, 16.6 percent of offenders received a sentence of more

than five but less than ten years, and 12.6 percent received a

sentence of ten or more years, excluding life imprisonment. In

fiscal year 2013, 153 federal offenders were sentenced to life

imprisonment while no offenders were sentenced to death.

Monetary fines were imposed in 8.5 percent of all cases in which

an individual was sentenced in fiscal year 2013, either as the sole

punishment or combined with some other sanction. Fines were

most commonly imposed in antitrust cases (81.3%), environmental

cases (66.0%), and food/drug cases (43.2%). When the offender

was an organization, courts imposed a fine in nearly seven out of

every ten cases (66.9%).

Courts ordered restitution to be paid to the victim of the crime in

14.2 percent of all cases in which the offender was an individual.

Restitution was most commonly ordered in cases involving

embezzlement (91.5%), robbery (77.2%), fraud (70.5%), larceny

(69.7%), and arson (63.8%). Restitution was ordered in 28.5

percent of the cases with an organizational offender.

Virtually all offenders who were sentenced to imprisonment also

were sentenced to serve a period of supervised release following

the completion of their confinement. In fiscal year 2013, 79.5

percent of offenders sentenced to incarceration also were

sentenced to serve a period of supervised release. The average

length of supervised release imposed was 48 months. The median

length of supervised release was 36 months.

The Most Common Crimes

Drugs

Drug offenses were the most common federal crime in fiscal year

2013. Most of the 25,000 drug cases involved the manufacture,

sale, or transportation of a drug, while 2,332 of those cases

involved the simple possession of a drug.4 Offenses involving

cocaine, in either powder form or base (crack) form, were the most

common drug crimes, accounting for 37.0 percent of the offenders

70.8 percent of offenders

received a sentence of less

than five years.
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Overview of Federal Criminal Cases – Fiscal Year 2013

sentenced under the Chapter Two drug guidelines. In fiscal year

2008, cases involving cocaine were almost evenly split between

the two forms of the drug. However, beginning in that year, the

portion of crack cocaine cases began to decrease steadily, from

24.4 percent in fiscal year 2008 to 13.0 percent in fiscal year 2013.

After cases involving cocaine (powder and crack cases combined),

methamphetamine offenses were the next most common,

representing 24.0 percent of all drug crimes. Fiscal year 2013 was

the first year in which methamphetamine offenses outnumbered

marijuana cases, which represented 21.6 percent of all drug

crimes. Heroin cases were the least common of the major drug

offenses, accounting for 9.7 percent of all drug crimes.

Most drug offenders were United States citizens, but the

percentage of drug offenders who are citizens varied widely

depending on the type of drug involved in the offense. For

example, 97.4 percent of crack cocaine offenders were United

States citizens, while only 61.5 percent of marijuana offenders

were United States citizens.

The race of drug offenders varied even more widely by the type of

drug involved in the offense. Almost half (47.9%) of all drug

offenders convicted in federal court were Hispanic, while Black

offenders comprised 26.5 percent of all drug offenders and White

offenders 22.4 percent of all drug offenders. Yet, in crack cocaine

cases, 82.7 percent of those convicted were Black, and in

methamphetamine cases 37.2 percent of the offenders were

White.

Weapons were involved in 16.2 percent of all drug offenses. As

with the other aspects of these cases discussed above, the rate of

weapon involvement varied depending on the type of drug

involved, ranging from 28.5 percent in crack cocaine cases to 10.2

percent in marijuana cases.

In fiscal year 2013, the average punishment for drug crimes

ranged from a high of 100 months of imprisonment for crack

cocaine offenders (with a median sentence of 78 months) to 41

months for marijuana offenders (with a median sentence of 30

months). Several factors affect the average prison sentence for

drug offenders, including statutory mandatory minimum

punishments, the quantity of the drugs involved in the case, the

prior criminal history of the offender, and whether the offender

assisted the government in the investigation of his or her crime

and other crimes. Because of this, comparisons of the average

sentence length in the different types of drug cases should be

made cautiously.
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United States Sentencing Commission

An offender’s role in the offense also can affect the guideline

range that judges consider when imposing punishment. In fiscal

year 2013, judges in 17.9 percent of all drug cases determined

that the applicable guideline range should be lowered because of

the offender’s minor or minimal role in the offense. In marijuana

cases, this adjustment to the guideline range occurred 25.0

percent of the time. In contrast, courts found such an adjustment

warranted in only 4.1 percent of crack cocaine cases. In 7.0

percent of all drug cases, the court determined that the applicable

guideline range should be increased because of the offender’s

role as an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor.

Mandatory minimum sentences enacted by Congress played a

large part in determining the sentence for drug offenders, either

outright or through the impact of these statutes on the structure of

the guidelines. In fiscal year 2013, crack cocaine offenders and

powder cocaine offenders were convicted of an offense that

provided for the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence at

rates of 59.8 and 73.2 percent, respectively.5 Powder cocaine

offenders obtained relief from a mandatory minimum sentence in

30.5 percent of all cases through the “safety valve” exception to

such sentences, which requires courts to sentence an offender

without regard to any otherwise applicable mandatory minimum

punishment when certain conditions are met.6 In contrast, only

6.8 percent of crack cocaine offenders obtained this relief.

This difference is due largely to the differing criminal histories of

powder cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking offenders. In fiscal

year 2013, 57.0 percent of powder cocaine offenders were

assigned to Criminal History Category I (offenders with a criminal

history score under the sentencing guidelines of zero or one) while

just 19.3 percent of crack cocaine offenders were assigned to that
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Overview of Federal Criminal Cases – Fiscal Year 2013

category. Only offenders assigned to Criminal History Category I

are eligible to receive the benefit of the safety valve.

Overall, crack cocaine offenders continue to have, on average, a

more serious criminal history than any other category of drug

offender.7 Crack cocaine offenders were assigned to the most

serious criminal history category (CHC VI) in 28.5 percent of all

crack cocaine cases. In contrast, powder cocaine offenders were

assigned to CHC VI in only 9.4 percent of cases. By comparison,

14.9 percent of heroin offenders were assigned to CHC VI and

11.3 percent of methamphetamine offenders were assigned to

CHC VI. Offenders convicted of marijuana offenses generally had

the least serious criminal histories, with 59.5 percent assigned to

CHC I and only 4.3 percent to CHC VI.

Immigration

Immigration offenses8 were the second most common serious

federal crime in fiscal year 2013, representing 31.2 percent of the

federal criminal case load. The majority of these offenses

involved either the unlawful reentry into the United States or

remaining in the United States without authority (83.2%). Another

10.0 percent involved alien smuggling activities.

Offenders sentenced under the immigration guidelines are

different from other federal offenders in several ways. For

example, although United States citizens committed the majority

of all federal crimes (55.1%), the overwhelming majority (94.1%)

of immigration offenses were committed by non-citizens.9

Similarly, while Hispanics accounted for only 32.5 percent of

non-immigration offenders, they account for 95.1 percent of

immigration offenders. Also, immigration offenders had

significantly less education than other offenders. Nearly 80

percent of immigration offenders had less than a high school

education, compared with less than 35 percent of offenders

convicted of other crimes. Additionally, while men committed most

federal crimes not involving an immigration offense (83.6%), men

committed an even higher proportion of immigration crimes

(93.5%).

Firearms and other weapons

Crimes involving firearms10 accounted for the third largest portion

(10.1%) of federal criminal cases in fiscal year 2013. Of the 8,068

firearms cases reported to the Commission, 24.0 percent involved

the possession or use of a firearm in connection with a crime of

violence or drug trafficking crime.11 More than half of the cases
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United States Sentencing Commission

(50.7%) involved a convicted felon who illegally possessed a

firearm.12

Of all cases with complete guideline application information

reported to the Commission in fiscal year 2013, in 8.0 percent of

cases a sentence was enhanced (either through application of an

SOC when available or statutorily) because a firearm or other

dangerous weapon (e.g., knife) was involved in the offense. A

weapon was involved twice as often in drug cases (16.2%).

Among drug cases, weapons were present most often in crack

cocaine cases (28.5%) and least often in marijuana cases

(10.2%).

Fraud

Fraud crimes were 9.8 percent of the total federal criminal

convictions for fiscal year 2013. The losses in these cases ranged

from $0 (no loss, in 114 cases) to $5,900,000,000, with an

average loss amount of $5,293,655 and a median loss amount of

$195,649. Identity theft crimes accounted for a relatively small

number (774) of these cases in fiscal year 2013.

Organizational Cases

Organizations such as corporations and partnerships can be

prosecuted for violating federal criminal law, and 172

organizations were sentenced for at least one federal criminal

offense in fiscal year 2013. This number is an 8.0 percent

decrease from the 187 cases reported in fiscal year 2012, and the

number of organizational defendants continues to be lower than in

earlier years. For example, 200 organizational defendants were

sentenced in fiscal year 2003, and 255 organizational defendants

were sentenced in fiscal year 1999.

Almost ninety-five percent of the organizational offenders

sentenced in fiscal year 2013 pled guilty to one or more charges.

The most common crimes for which organizational defendants

were convicted were environmental and fraud crimes.

Organizational offenders were sentenced to pay only a fine in 94

cases. In an additional 21 cases the offender was sentenced to

pay restitution to the victim of the crime as well as to pay a fine. In

28 cases, the organization was sentenced to pay restitution only.

No fine or restitution was imposed in 29 cases, although other

sanctions were imposed in some of these cases. Additionally, of

the 172 organizational offenders, 134 received some term of

probation, and 41 were ordered to make improvements in

compliance or ethics procedures.

The median loss amount in

fraud cases was $195,649.
Overview of Federal Criminal Cases – Fiscal Year 2013

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For More Information

More information on these cases can be

found in the Commission’s 2013 Annual

Report, 2013 Sourcebook of Federal

Sentencing Statistics, and Guideline

Application Frequencies for Fiscal Year

2013. The Annual Report and

Sourcebook are available in hard copy

format through the Commission. All

three documents, together with other

reports on sentencing data, are also

available in electronic format at the

Commission’s website at

www.ussc.gov. Additional statistical

analyses of these cases can be found

through the Commission’s “Interactive

Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing

Statistics” at http://isb.ussc.gov.

Resentencings and Other Modifications of Sentence

In 2013, the Commission received documentation on 4,429

resentencings and other modifications of sentence. The most

frequently reported reason was a reduction in sentence for

substantial assistance14 to the government after sentencing (1,618

or 36.5% of all cases).

The second most common type of resentencing reason or

modification of sentence was a remand by the court of appeals

(809 or 18.3% of all cases). The third most common type of

resentencing or modification of sentence was a modification of

restitution order (683 or 15.4% of all cases).
United States Sentencing Commission 

Endnotes 

1. The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency in the judicial branch of government. Its principal 

purposes are (1) to establish sentencing policies and practices for the federal courts, including guidelines to be consulted 

regarding the appropriate form and severity of punishment for offenders convicted of federal crimes; (2) to advise and 

assist Congress and the executive branch in the development of effective and efficient crime policy; and (3) to collect, 

analyze, research, and distribute a broad array of information on federal crime and sentencing issues. 

 

2. The Commission receives information from the courts on cases in which the defendant has been convicted of a felony 

or Class A misdemeanor. 

3. There were 86,201 individual offender cases reported to the Commission in Fiscal Year 2011. UNITED STATES 

SENTENCING COMMISSION, 2011 SOURCEBOOK OF FEDERAL SENTENCING STATISTICS, 12 (2012).

4. This number also includes persons convicted of one or more crimes in addition to a drug offense. 

5. Some of these offenders received a sentence that was lower than the applicable statutory mandatory minimum 

punishment due to the operation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 3553(e) or (f). Subsection (e) authorizes courts to impose a sentence 

that is below a statutory mandatory minimum when the offender has provided substantial assistance to the government in 

investigating or prosecuting another offender. Subsection (f) requires courts to impose a sentence on a non-violent 

offender with no or limited criminal background without regard to a statutory mandatory minimum punishment when certain 

other conditions are met. 

6. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). 

7. Under the guidelines, offenders are assigned to one of six criminal history categories (CHCs) based on their prior 

criminal history. The criminal history score establishes the CHC for an offender. See UNITED STATES SENTENCING 

COMMISSION, GUIDELINES MANUAL, Ch.4 (2013). The CHC, along with the final offense level, determines the sentencing 

range under the guidelines. 

8. Immigration offense means, in general, a case in which at least one of the statutes of conviction involved trafficking in 

passports or entry documents; failure to surrender naturalization certificates; fraudulently acquiring passports; alien 

smuggling; unlawful presence in the United States; or fraudulently acquiring entry documents. 

9. Non-citizens primarily are convicted of immigration crimes. Non-citizens were the offenders in only 14.8 percent of 

federal crimes other than immigration crimes in fiscal year 2013. 

10. Firearms crime includes unlawful possession or transportation of firearms or ammunition; unlawful trafficking in 

explosives; possession of guns or explosives in a federal facility, a school, or on an aircraft; the use of fire or explosives to 

commit a felony; and the use of firearms or ammunition during a crime. 

11. I.e., a case in which 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) was the statute of conviction. 

12. I.e., a case in which 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) was the statute of conviction. 

13. Identity theft crimes are those fraud cases in which one or more of the offenses of conviction was 

18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(7) or 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. The Commission includes these cases with other fraud cases when it 

reports sentencing statistics. 

14. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 35(b).