Two great new data reports from the US Sentencing Commission

I am pleased to discover and report that the US Sentencing Commission has used the holiday season to produce two lovely new (and very reader-friendly) documents about federal sentencing realities.  First came last week’s release of “Overview of Federal Criminal Cases, Fiscal Year 2007,” which is actually a more exciting document than the title might suggest.  Here is how the USSC describes this report:

This publication provides a broad overview of federal sentencing data for fiscal year 2007. Readers will find this publication to be a brief, easy-to-use reference on the types of criminal cases handled by the federal courts and the punishments imposed on the offenders convicted in those cases. This publication will be available in hard copy format in the coming weeks.

And this week has now brought another report, “Changing Face of Federal Criminal Sentencing: Seventeen Years of Growth in the Federal Sentencing Caseload.”  Though perhaps only a true sentencing geek like me finds even this title exciting, here is how the USSC whets our appetite for this notable new document:

This publication provides an overview of the demographic make-up of federal offenders sentenced under the federal sentencing guidelines for fiscal years 1991 through 2007, examines trends in the types of federal offenses sentenced, and analyzes the demographic characteristics of offenders sentenced for the most common federal offenses during this time period.

I now know at least one data nerd who can make special plans for a rocking federal sentencing new year’s eve bash.  (Maybe I should drop all my USSC data runs from my roof at the stroke of midnight to celebrate all the great information the USSC has published in 2008.  It truly has been a banner year for federal sentencing data junkies.)