US Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Report, 2020
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U.S. Sentencing Commission Compassionate Release Data Report Calendar Year 2020 July 2021 Introduction As part of its ongoing mission, the United States Sentencing Commission provides Congress, the judiciary, the executive branch, and the general public with data extracted from and based on sentencing documents submitted by courts to the Commission.1 Data is reported on an annual basis in the Commission’s Annual Report and Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics.2 The Commission also reports preliminary data for an on-going fiscal year in order to provide real-time analysis of sentencing practices in the federal courts. Since 2005, the Commission has published a series of quarterly reports that are similar in format and methodology to tables and figures produced in the Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics. The quarterly reports contain cumulative data for the on-going fiscal year (i.e., data from the start of the fiscal year through the most current quarter). From time to time the Commission also reports data regarding other sentencing trends, such as resentencings or other modifications of sentences previously imposed. Section 3582(c)(1)(A) of title 18, United States Code, provides courts with the authority to reduce a term of imprisonment after it has been imposed in specific circumstances. One of the circumstances provided in the statute is that “extraordinary and compelling reasons” warrant such a reduction. Motions asserting that reason are commonly referred to as “compassionate release” motions. When considering any motion under section 3582(c)(1)(A), courts are also required to consider the factors set forth in section 3553(a) of title 18 and to find that any reduction “is consistent with applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission.” 3 Before December 2018, courts were authorized to consider motions under section 3582(c)(1)(A) only if they were filed by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. In December 2018, Congress amended that portion of section 3582 to authorize courts to also consider motions filed by offenders, in certain circumstances.4 1 In each federal felony or Class A misdemeanor case, sentencing courts are required to submit the following documents to the Commission: the Judgment and Commitment Order, the Statement of Reasons, the plea agreement (if applicable), the indictment or other charging document, and the Presentence Report. See 28 U.S.C. § 994(w). 2 Electronic copies of the 1995-2020 ANNUAL REPORT and SOURCEBOOK OF FEDERAL SENTENCING STATISTICS are available at the Commission’s website at www.ussc.gov. 3 4 U.S. SENTENCING COMM’N, Guidelines Manual §1B1.13 (Nov. 2018) [hereinafter USSG]. The First Step Act of 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-391 (2018)) went into effect on December 21, 2018. Section 603 of the Act amended section 3582(c)(1)(A) of title 18 to authorize “defendants” (i.e., offenders) to file a motion for compassionate release “after the defendant has fully exhausted all administrative rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of Prisons to bring a motion on the defendant’s behalf or the lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by the warden of the defendant’s facility, whichever is earlier.” With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic,5 the courts received thousands of compassionate release motions, most filed by offenders. This report provides an analysis of the compassionate release motions filed with the courts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data in this report reflects compassionate release motions decided by the courts during calendar year 2020 (January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020). Prior to October 1, 2020, courts submitted to the Commission documentation regarding motions for all compassionate release that were granted, but not for all compassionate release motions that were denied. For the time period of January 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020, the Commission obtained documentation for compassionate release motions that were denied, where available, by searching court records using the PACER system. Beginning October 1, 2020, courts began submitting to the Commission documentation for all compassionate release motions, regardless of whether they were granted or denied. The data in this report is limited to motions for which the Commission received or obtained court documentation and completed its analysis by July 9, 2021. 5 The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. President Trump declared a national emergency concerning the coronavirus (COVID-19) on March 13, 2020. Table 1 MOTIONS FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE 1 BY MONTH OF RESENTENCING DATE Total Year Month TOTAL 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 January February March April May June July August September October November December 1 N 12,885 48 37 49 460 892 1,328 1,563 1,483 1,319 2,001 1,720 1,985 Granted N 2,604 17 13 19 163 270 304 403 331 253 260 238 333 Denied % 20.2 35.4 35.1 38.8 35.4 30.3 22.9 25.8 22.3 19.2 13.0 13.8 16.8 N 10,281 31 24 30 297 622 1,024 1,160 1,152 1,066 1,741 1,482 1,652 Of the 13,241 cases reported to the commission, 356 were excluded due to indeterminable motion status. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. % 79.8 64.6 64.9 61.2 64.6 69.7 77.1 74.2 77.7 80.8 87.0 86.2 83.2 Table 2 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MOTIONS FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE BY DISTRICT1 Total District TOTAL Southern Florida Southern New York Middle Florida Eastern Michigan Eastern Virginia Western North Carolina Northern Texas Maryland Northern Illinois Western Missouri Southern Iowa Eastern North Carolina Eastern Pennsylvania Central Illinois Northern Ohio South Carolina Eastern California Southern Texas Northern Iowa Eastern Texas Minnesota Western Texas Eastern Kentucky Eastern New York Southern Indiana Northern California Eastern Missouri Middle North Carolina Middle Pennsylvania Western Washington Eastern Tennessee New Jersey Central California Northern Georgia Western Pennsylvania Southern Georgia Hawaii District of Columbia Northern Indiana Western Michigan Montana Southern Mississippi Western Virginia Southern California Kansas Connecticut Colorado 1 N 12,885 531 518 453 372 350 337 330 290 272 256 247 224 213 211 209 205 205 204 202 200 200 200 188 187 183 172 165 162 160 160 152 149 143 142 140 138 138 138 137 137 136 135 133 132 130 126 119 Granted N 2,604 101 97 28 112 59 5 18 109 104 30 30 56 74 45 44 40 38 53 16 5 68 24 13 46 30 81 26 10 12 40 25 28 47 50 26 4 22 49 17 9 12 6 38 67 58 66 19 Total Denied % 20.2 19.0 18.7 6.2 30.1 16.9 1.5 5.5 37.6 38.2 11.7 12.1 25.0 34.7 21.3 21.1 19.5 18.5 26.0 7.9 2.5 34.0 12.0 6.9 24.6 16.4 47.1 15.8 6.2 7.5 25.0 16.4 18.8 32.9 35.2 18.6 2.9 15.9 35.5 12.4 6.6 8.8 4.4 28.6 50.8 44.6 52.4 16.0 N 10,281 430 421 425 260 291 332 312 181 168 226 217 168 139 166 165 165 167 151 186 195 132 176 175 141 153 91 139 152 148 120 127 121 96 92 114 134 116 89 120 128 124 129 95 65 72 60 100 % 79.8 81.0 81.3 93.8 69.9 83.1 98.5 94.5 62.4 61.8 88.3 87.9 75.0 65.3 78.7 78.9 80.5 81.5 74.0 92.1 97.5 66.0 88.0 93.1 75.4 83.6 52.9 84.2 93.8 92.5 75.0 83.6 81.2 67.1 64.8 81.4 97.1 84.1 64.5 87.6 93.4 91.2 95.6 71.4 49.2 55.4 47.6 84.0 Of the 13,241 cases reported to the commission, 356 were excluded due to indeterminable motion status. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. District Western New York Middle Georgia Middle Tennessee Southern Ohio Northern Florida Southern Alabama Southern West Virginia Oregon Maine Eastern Wisconsin Southern Illinois Western Tennessee Eastern Louisiana Massachusetts Nebraska Eastern Arkansas New Hampshire Northern Mississippi Western Wisconsin Northern Alabama South Dakota Western Kentucky Eastern Washington North Dakota Utah Nevada Northern New York Wyoming Western Oklahoma Middle Alabama Vermont New Mexico Arizona Alaska Rhode Island Northern West Virginia Eastern Oklahoma Western Louisiana Western Arkansas Middle Louisiana Delaware Idaho Puerto Rico Northern Oklahoma Guam Virgin Islands Northern Mariana Islands Granted Denied N N % N % 115 111 111 104 102 99 97 96 92 89 89 86 84 82 80 75 75 74 74 74 71 71 71 69 67 67 60 59 59 58 53 53 52 47 45 41 34 33 25 20 20 20 19 15 8 6 2 24 4 31 21 32 11 5 67 7 35 9 6 10 51 14 2 16 11 9 16 9 5 16 4 10 29 11 15 2 3 28 17 15 20 29 3 1 10 1 3 3 6 14 6 5 0 1 20.9 3.6 27.9 20.2 31.4 11.1 5.2 69.8 7.6 39.3 10.1 7.0 11.9 62.2 17.5 2.7 21.3 14.9 12.2 21.6 12.7 7.0 22.5 5.8 14.9 43.3 18.3 25.4 3.4 5.2 52.8 32.1 28.8 42.6 64.4 7.3 2.9 30.3 4.0 15.0 15.0 30.0 73.7 40.0 62.5 0.0 50.0 91 107 80 83 70 88 92 29 85 54 80 80 74 31 66 73 59 63 65 58 62 66 55 65 57 38 49 44 57 55 25 36 37 27 16 38 33 23 24 17 17 14 5 9 3 6 1 79.1 96.4 72.1 79.8 68.6 88.9 94.8 30.2 92.4 60.7 89.9 93.0 88.1 37.8 82.5 97.3 78.7 85.1 87.8 78.4 87.3 93.0 77.5 94.2 85.1 56.7 81.7 74.6 96.6 94.8 47.2 67.9 71.2 57.4 35.6 92.7 97.1 69.7 96.0 85.0 85.0 70.0 26.3 60.0 37.5 100.0 50.0 Table 3 MOTIONS FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE BY YEAR OF ORIGINAL SENTENCE1 Fiscal Year TOTAL 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 Total N 12,849 5 1,238 2,341 1,679 1,321 946 866 748 631 482 365 335 326 250 194 167 134 125 96 78 73 68 67 43 54 54 43 36 37 21 16 5 5 Granted N 2,584 1 250 402 314 206 149 159 133 143 110 64 72 65 69 42 49 39 37 29 29 31 25 29 15 20 24 24 17 14 7 10 4 2 Denied % 20.1 20.0 20.2 17.2 18.7 15.6 15.8 18.4 17.8 22.7 22.8 17.5 21.5 19.9 27.6 21.6 29.3 29.1 29.6 30.2 37.2 42.5 36.8 43.3 34.9 37.0 44.4 55.8 47.2 37.8 33.3 62.5 80.0 40.0 1 N 10,265 4 988 1,939 1,365 1,115 797 707 615 488 372 301 263 261 181 152 118 95 88 67 49 42 43 38 28 34 30 19 19 23 14 6 1 3 % 79.9 80.0 79.8 82.8 81.3 84.4 84.2 81.6 82.2 77.3 77.2 82.5 78.5 80.1 72.4 78.4 70.7 70.9 70.4 69.8 62.8 57.5 63.2 56.7 65.1 63.0 55.6 44.2 52.8 62.2 66.7 37.5 20.0 60.0 Of the 12,885 cases reported to the Commission, 36 were excluded from this analysis because the cases cannot be matched with an original case in the Commission's records. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. Table 4 ORIGIN OF GRANTED MOTIONS FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE1 Attorney for the Government Joint Motion2 Total Defendant N 2,601 N 2,509 % 96.5 N 21 % 0.8 N 1 % 0.0 N 70 % 2.7 49 48 98.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 2.0 FIRST CIRCUIT 117 116 99.1 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0.9 SECOND CIRCUIT 272 271 99.6 1 0.4 0 0.0 0 0.0 THIRD CIRCUIT 143 133 93.0 3 2.1 0 0.0 7 4.9 FOURTH CIRCUIT 325 321 98.8 2 0.6 0 0.0 2 0.6 FIFTH CIRCUIT 137 135 98.5 2 1.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 SIXTH CIRCUIT 266 261 98.1 2 0.8 0 0.0 3 1.1 SEVENTH CIRCUIT 249 245 98.4 2 0.8 0 0.0 2 0.8 EIGHTH CIRCUIT 200 178 89.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 22 11.0 NINTH CIRCUIT 466 431 92.5 5 1.1 0 0.0 30 6.4 TENTH CIRCUIT 128 124 96.9 2 1.6 0 0.0 2 1.6 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT 249 246 98.8 2 0.8 1 0.4 0 0.0 CIRCUIT TOTAL D.C. CIRCUIT 1 Director BOP Of the 2,604 cases in which the court granted a motion for compassionate release, three cases were excluded from this analysis because the information received by the Commission prevented a determination of motion origin. 2 Joint motion by the defendant and the attorney for the government. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. Table 5 DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFENDERS RECEIVING COMPASSIONATE RELEASE Demographics N % Race/Ethnicity White Black Hispanic Other Total 862 1,164 451 96 2,573 33.5 45.2 17.5 3.7 100.0 Citizenship U.S. Citizen Non-Citizen Total 2,360 199 2,559 92.2 7.8 100.0 2,332 271 2,603 89.6 10.4 100.0 Gender Male Female Total Average Age at Original Sentence 40 Average Age at Release 46 1 Of the 2,604 cases in which the court granted a motion for compassionate release, cases were excluded from each section of this table due to the following reasons: missing race information (31), missing citizenship information (45), missing gender information (1), and missing age information (36). SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. Table 6 SELECTED SENTENCING FACTORS FOR OFFENDERS RECEIVING COMPASSIONATE RELEASE1 Sentencing Factors Weapon2,3 Weapon Specific Offense Characteristic Firearms Mandatory Minimum Applied Safety Valve2 % 30.7 16.3 16.3 9.7 Guideline Role Adjustments2 Aggravating Role (USSG §3B1.1) Mitigating Role (USSG §3B1.2) Obstruction Adjustment (USSG §3C1.1) 17.3 4.5 8.4 Sentence Relative to the Guideline Range Within Range Above Range Below Range 42.8 2.5 54.7 Criminal History Category I II III IV V VI 30.7 11.5 13.5 9.7 6.4 28.2 Career Offender (§4B1.1) 2 16.5 1 Of the 2,604 cases in which the court granted a motion for compassionate release, 20 were excluded from this analysis because the cases cannot be matched with an original case in the Commission's records. 2 This section was limited to the 2,472 cases with complete guideline application information. 3 In 43 cases the court applied the weapon specific offense characteristic and the offender was also convicted of a firearms offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. Table 8 TYPE OF CRIME FOR OFFENDERS RECEIVING COMPASSIONATE RELEASE1 TYPE OF CRIME TOTAL Administration of Justice Antitrust Arson Assault Bribery/Corruption Burglary/Trespass Child Pornography Commercialized Vice Drug Possession Drug Trafficking Environmental Extortion/Racketeering Firearms Food and Drug Forgery/Counter/Copyright Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement Immigration Individual Rights Kidnapping Manslaughter Money Laundering Murder National Defense Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses Prison Offenses Robbery Sexual Abuse Stalking/Harassing Tax Other N % 2,574 11 2 6 12 16 0 85 4 0 1,365 2 10 322 0 6 260 25 6 5 1 98 29 8 4 9 208 48 2 28 2 100.0 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.0 3.3 0.2 0.0 53.0 0.1 0.4 12.5 0.0 0.2 10.1 1.0 0.2 0.2 0.0 3.8 1.1 0.3 0.2 0.3 8.1 1.9 0.1 1.1 0.1 1 Of the 2,604 cases in which the court granted a motion for compassionate release, 20 were excluded from this analysis because the cases cannot be matched with an original case in the Commission's records. Of these, 10 were excluded due to missing information on the type of crime. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile. Figure 1 ORIGINAL SENTENCE LENGTH FOR OFFENDERS RECEIVING COMPASSIONATE RELEASE1 Less than 1 year 1.9% 20 years or more 21.6% 1 year to less than 2 years 4.4% 2 years to less than 5 years 19.0% 10 years to less than 20 years 28.7% 1 5 years to less than 10 years 24.3% Of the 2,604 cases in which the court granted a motion for compassionate release, information on the original sentence length was missing in 41 cases. SOURCE: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release Datafile.