Introduction to the Collection of Individual Offender Data by the United States Sentencing Commission: Research Notes

摘要

The Commission collects information only on criminal cases involving at least one felony or Class A misdemeanor conviction, with the exception that death penalty case information is not submitted to the Commission because these cases are considered non-guidelines cases. Records of any federal criminal case involving petty offenses only, in which the defendant was acquitted of all charges, or where all charges were dismissed are not maintained by the Commission. Cases where a diversionary sentence was imposed also are not kept in the Commission's individual offender datafile. Finally, cases are not included if all of the offense conduct occurred before the guidelines were promulgated.