When will there be more official post-Booker data?

As I have mentioned before, the US Sentencing Commission initially did a great job producing (on this page) real-time data on how Booker was affecting (or not affecting) federal sentencing outcomes in the district courts.  But, after its March 2006 report on the first year after Booker, real-time sentencing data from the USSC has been in short supply.  And, even more disappointingly, the Commission has not publicly explored some of the most dynamic post-Booker data issues such as defendants’ fates after remands (cf. Judge McConnell’s insights in Medley) or post-Booker sentencing outcomes for white-collar or other particular types of offenders. 

The absence of new and up-to-date sentencing data from the USSC is especially troubling given that the Supreme Court is exploring post-Booker sentencing realities and reasonableness review in Claiborne and Rita.  In addition, transitions in Congress could and should facilitate new conversations about post-Booker legislative reforms, and the USSC ought to be prompting such conversations through sophisticated data analysis about post-Booker sentencing realities.

I continue to want to hopeful and optimistic about the USSC’s ability to encourage sensible, data-focus post-Booker reforms.  But, as the Booker data silence grows more deafening, the USSC’s post-Booker work is looking even more uninspiring.

Some recent (and older) related posts:

• Will the USSC have more data for Claiborne and Rita?
• Please feed the data junkies, USSC
• What’s the USSC doing these days?
• Key questions for USSC: Now what…?
• Encouraging a critical race examination of post-Booker developments
• A loud deafening silence from the Sentencing Commission
• Friday afternoon ranting about the post-Booker world
• What is the Sentencing Commission fiddling while the crack guidelines burn?
• What is the USSC doing on the Booker front now?