Presentation to the American Bar Association Section of Taxation February 2012 Presented by Herbert J. Hoelter, CEO National Center on Institutions and Alternatives www.ncianet.org individual focus. community perspective.
Agenda 1) Sentencing Statistical Analysis of Sentencing Disparity 2) Federal Bureau of Prisons RDAP Update Collateral Consequences of Incarceration for non- U.S. citizens 3) Supervised Release Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles individual focus. community perspective.
Sentencing Disparity Analysis For a Criminal Tax Case individual focus. community perspective.
Purpose of a Disparity Analysis To fulfill the mandate of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6) Assist the Court in imposing a fair and proportionate sentence and one which avoids unwarranted disparity Provide the Court with a detailed data analysis comparing sentences imposed on similarly-situated federal offenders individual focus. community perspective.
NCIA Research Methodology Steps of a Disparity Analysis Download USSC data: October 1,1998-September 30, 2009 Create similarly-situated data pool based on: statute of conviction loss amount offender characteristics Chapter 3 adjustments individual focus. community perspective.
Calculate average prison sentence length Analyze data by loss category Conclusion individual focus. community perspective.
Description of United States Sentencing Commission Data Computerized data collection of federal sentencing data maintained by the United States Sentencing Commission. Contains data on federal criminal cases sentenced under the Sentencing Guidelines and Policy Statements of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Contains all cases received by the USSC that were sentenced between October 1, 1998 and September 30, 2009.* 99% of all federal criminal cases (over 755,000 cases) are included in dataset. NCIA research staff sorted and selected cases where the defendant’s statute of conviction under Appendix A of the Guidelines directed the scorer to U.S.S.G. § 2T1.1 and the defendant was ultimately scored according to U.S.S.G. § 2T1.1. 4,841 cases. *NCIA now has data through September 30, 2010. individual focus. community perspective.
Analysis: Title 26 U.S.C. § 7201 National Offense Information: NCIA research staff sorted and selected only those cases where the defendant had only one statute of conviction and that statute was Title 26 U.S.C. § 7201. 3,668 cases were deleted and 1,173 cases remained. NCIA research staff deleted those cases that contained more than one count. 284 cases were deleted and 889 cases remained. individual focus. community perspective.
Criminal History: NCIA research staff deleted those cases where the defendant was not a Criminal History I. 95 cases were deleted and 794 cases remained. Plea vs. Trial: NCIA research staff deleted those cases where the defendant did not enter into a plea agreement. 16 cases were deleted and 778 cases remained. Missing Information: NCIA research staff deleted those cases that contained missing or incomplete sentencing information. 2 cases were deleted and 776 cases remained. NCIA research staff deleted those cases that contained missing or incomplete information regarding loss. 1 case was deleted and 775 cases remained. individual focus. community perspective.
Prison vs. Probation Analysis: NCIA researchers aggregated all years and tallied the total number of cases sentenced to a term of imprisonment versus those receiving a probationary or fine only sentence to determined the percentage of each category (“Probation” or “Prison”). For those who received a term of imprisonment, the average sentence length was determined. Loss Amount Analysis: NCIA research staff sorted these 775 cases by the dollar amount attributed to loss and set up loss categories reflective of the 2010 Federal Guidelines U.S.S.G § 2T4.1 loss table. individual focus. community perspective.
Analysis of Title 26 USC § 7201 Defendants National FY 1999-2009 Probation/ Average Prison Loss Amount Total Cases Fine Only Prison Length $0-$5,000 n=5 5 (100.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$5,000-$12,500 n=18 17 (94.4%) 1 (5.6%) 3.0 months >$12,500-$30,000 n=72 56 (77.8%) 16 (22.2%) 6.1 months >$30,000-$80,000 n=254 138 (54.3%) 116 (45.7%) 8.1 months >$80,000-$200,000 n=221 77 (34.8%) 144 (65.2%) 11.0 months Over $200,000 n=205 42 (20.5%) 163 (79.5%) 18.4 months All Cases n=775 335 (43.2%) 440 (56.8%) 12.8 months individual focus. community perspective.
Circuit Analysis NCIA research staff sorted the 775 cases described above to determine how many defendants were sentenced in the 4 th Circuit. Of these 775 defendants, 77 defendants were sentenced in the 4 th Circuit. individual focus. community perspective.
Analysis of Title 26 USC § 7201 Defendants 4 th Circuit FY 1999-2009 Probation/ Average Prison Loss Amount Total Cases Fine Only Prison Length $0-$5,000 n=0 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$5,000-$12,500 n=0 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$12,500-$30,000 n=7 5 (71.4%) 2 (28.6%) 4.0 months >$30,000-$80,000 n=18 8 (44.4%) 10 (55.6%) 7.6 months >$80,000-$200,000 n=25 9 (36.0%) 16 (64.0%) 11.8 months Over $200,000 n=27 2 (7.4%) 25 (92.6%) 18.5 months All Cases n=77 24 (31.2%) 53 (68.8%) 13.9 months individual focus. community perspective.
Downward Departure Analysis NCIA research staff sorted the 775 cases described above to determine how many defendants received a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G § 5K1.1. 162 defendants received a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G § 5K1.1. 613 defendants did not receive a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1. An analysis of these 162 defendants and 613 defendants follow. individual focus. community perspective.
Analysis of Title 26 USC § 7201 Defendants Receiving a U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 Departure National FY 1999-2009 Probation/ Average Prison Loss Amount Total Cases Fine Only Prison Length $0-$5,000 n=0 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$5,000-$12,500 n=2 2 (100.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$12,500-$30,000 n=9 9 (100.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$30,000-$80,000 n=64 61 (95.3%) 3 (4.7%) 8.5 months >$80,000-$200,000 n=40 29 (72.5%) 11 (27.5%) 6.0 months Over $200,000 n=47 24 (51.1%) 23 (48.9%) 12.4 months All Cases n=162 125 (77.2%) 37 (22.8%) 10.2 months individual focus. community perspective.
Analysis of Title 26 USC § 7201 Defendants Not Receiving a U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 Departure National FY 1999-2009 Probation/ Average Prison Loss Amount Total Cases Fine Only Prison Length $0-$5,000 n=5 5 (100.0%) 0 (0.0%) N/A >$5,000-$12,500 n=16 15 (93.8%) 1 (6.2%) 3.0 months >$12,500-$30,000 n=63 47 (74.6%) 16 (25.4%) 6.1 months >$30,000-$80,000 n=190 77 (40.5%) 113 (59.5%) 8.1 months >$80,000-$200,000 n=181 48 (26.5%) 133 (73.5%) 11.4 months Over $200,000 n=158 18 (11.4%) 140 (88.6%) 19.4 months All Cases n=613 210 (34.3%) 403 (65.7%) 13.0 months individual focus. community perspective.
Federal Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) Update Policy Changes Effective March 16, 2009: Sentence must be 24 months or longer Must have documented use/abuse of drugs or alcohol within past 12 months Must have self-report in Presentence Report Must have independent, confirmed DSM-IV diagnosis Must “pass” interview with BOP psychologist individual focus. community perspective.
Changes in Program Incentives: Early Release Benefits Sentence of 37 months or greater – 12 months extra good time Sentence of 31-36 months or greater – 9 months extra good time Sentence of 24-30 months – 6 months extra good time individual focus. community perspective.
Changes in Program Incentives: RDAP Benefits Extra Good Time Guaranteed 6 months community confinement (CCC/home detention) Separate, less-crowded dormitories individual focus. community perspective.
RDAP Example Sentence Length: 37 months Statutory Good Time: 5 months Time to Serve: 32 months RDAP Eligibility at: 27 months RDAP Program: 9 months Time Served in BOP 14 months Time Remaining: 18 months Release to Community Confinement: 6 months Remaining 12 months: Extra Good Time Credit individual focus. community perspective.
Collateral Consequences of Incarceration for Non-U.S. Citizens Not eligible for Federal Prison Camps (Public Safety Factor (PSF) Must go to low security or higher level prison Many incarcerated at privately run prisons for non-U.S. citizens Not eligible for pre- release programs (CCC’s/home confinement) Transfer to ICE facility for deportation hearing individual focus. community perspective.
Supervised Release Issues Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) individual focus. community perspective.
PCRA Offender Section Directions: The following items, if answered honestly, are designed to help you better understand your thinking and behavior. Please take the time to complete each of the 80 items on this inventory using the four-point scale defined below: 4=strongly agree 3=agree 2=uncertain 1=disagree individual focus. community perspective.
Recommend
More recommend
