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Federal Sentencing in 2020

Today the U.S. Sentencing Commission published its 2020 Annual Report and Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics.

Agency Highlights

The Annual Report presents an overview of the Commission's work in FY20—a year that brought unique challenges and opportunities for technological advancement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • COVID-19 significantly impacted how the Commission performs its daily work; however, sustained and strategic investments in technology, automation, and cybersecurity allowed for a quick pivot and continuity of operations culminating in this seasonable publication of the 2020 Sourcebook.
  • The Commission’s website traffic increased by more than 20% for the second year in a row, demonstrating that interest in the Commission's work by sentencing courts, Congress, the Executive Branch, and the general public continues to increase.
  • The Commission launched a new Interactive Data Analyzer--a tool for Congress, judges, litigants, the press, and the general public to easily and independently analyze sentencing data by their state, district or circuit, and refine their inquiry by a specific crime type or time period.
  • COVID-19 forced the Commission to suspend all in-person training and seminars; however, the Commission’s ongoing investments in eLearning allowed its training efforts to continue unabated.
  • The Commission collected, analyzed, and reported data on implementation of the First Step Act of 2018, and continued its recidivism research to help inform Congress and others on how best to protect public safety while targeting scarce prison resources on the most dangerous offenders.

FY20 Fast Facts

The Sourcebook presents information on the 64,565 federal offenders sentenced in FY20—a sentencing caseload that decreased by nearly 12,000 cases from the previous fiscal year.

  • Immigration, drug trafficking, firearms, and fraud crimes together comprised 86% of the federal sentencing caseload in FY20.
  • Immigration was the most common federal crime type sentenced, accounting for 41% of the caseload (up from 38% in FY19).
  • Methamphetamine continued to be the most common drug type in the federal system, and a steadily growing portion of the drug caseload (up from 31% in FY16 and 42% in FY19 to 46% in FY20).
  • Methamphetamine trafficking continued to be the most severely punished federal drug crime (holding steady at an average sentence of 95 months).
  • Average sentences across all other major drug types (crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin, and marijuana) decreased.
  • Two-thirds (67%) of drug offenders were convicted of an offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty, up slightly from the previous year (66%).
  • Three-quarters (74%) of federal offenders were sentenced under the Guidelines Manual in FY20.

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Homeland Security

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of Public Affairs

Alejandro Mayorkas: How DHS will combat domestic extremism

Domestic violent extremism poses the most lethal and persistent terrorism-related threat to our country today. The Department of Homeland Security, working with its many partners at the local, state and federal levels, is taking immediate action to address it.

For several years, the United States has been suffering an upsurge in domestic violent extremism. The horror of seeing the U.S. Capitol, one of the pillars of our democracy, attacked on Jan. 6 was a brutal example of our suffering, and it compels us all to action.

On Thursday, DHS issued more than $1 billion in homeland security grants to eligible state, local, territorial and tribal partners, as we do each year. These grants are a critical tool to protect the homeland from the most urgent threats. As a department, we recognize that we must adapt our grant-making to account for the evolving threat environment.

That is why I have designated domestic violent extremism as a National Priority Area for the first time, and will require state and local governments to spend 7.5 percent of their DHS grant awards combating this threat. In practice, this means state and local governments nationwide will spend at least $77 million to prevent, prepare for, protect against and respond to domestic violent extremism. Well-established grant guidance clarifies eligible expenses for building these important capabilities. It also ensures the funds are spent in ways that demonstrably contribute to identifiable security needs while upholding our nation’s values.

This new guidance is just one of the risk-based ways we are refocusing the department to address the evolving threat environment. As the horrific events of Jan. 6 underscored, DHS must have the operational capacity to appropriately respond to domestic violent extremism. After being confirmed as secretary of homeland security, one of my first actions was to increase training opportunities for law enforcement personnel to conduct threat-assessment and threat-management programs related to domestic violent extremism. We are also reviewing suspicious-activity reporting and travel-pattern analyses to more effectively protect all communities from violence.

Americans have witnessed the costs of allowing politics to pervade intelligence. Since Inauguration Day, DHS has increased the development, production, and sharing of intelligence and other information central to countering domestic violent extremism. We have done so in partnership with state, local, tribal and territorial officials; law enforcement; the private sector; and international allies. The operational integration and sharing of timely, objective intelligence can save lives.

The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was one of many events that constitute a multi-year pattern of violence by domestic extremists. These individuals and groups have largely been radicalized by the spread of false narratives, extremist rhetoric and conspiracy theories such as QAnon, which are disseminated on social media and other online platforms by malign actors, both foreign and domestic.

As some private companies have taken steps to curb this online activity, extremists have moved to darker, less public parts of the Web, where there are fewer restrictions. More can be done to stop the spread of extremist material online, and DHS officials are carefully studying how best to address extremists’ abuse of social media to recruit and radicalize people to violence. As part of this effort, DHS is also working to increase public awareness and resilience to disinformation and false narratives that inspire domestic extremist violence.

DHS will continue to lawfully monitor threats posed by foreign terrorist organizations. But we also know that the threat posed by domestic violent extremism will remain persistent. We have witnessed an increase in domestic attacks, particularly by white-supremacist, anti-government and anti-authority extremists. The majority of these attacks have targeted communities of color and other minority groups. The 2019 shooting in El Paso was motivated by anti-immigrant extremism, and the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh less than a year before was motivated by antisemitic extremism. Recently, domestic violent extremists have focused their attention on government facilities and personnel.

Under the First Amendment, every American has the right to free speech. Some domestic extremists, however, use the banner of the First Amendment to disguise their attempts to incite and engage in violence. Inciting others to commit violent acts is a crime. The Department of Homeland Security will use its authorities to counter the threats posed by this violence, consistent with the law.

Under President Biden’s leadership, we are focused on preventing and combating domestic violent extremism. As secretary of homeland security, I will ensure that we bring to bear the full resources of our department to counter this threat and protect the American people.

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