Federal Criminal Trial Lawyers Michael Leonard and Matthew Chivari on Sentencing Commission’s data on the Education levels of Federally Sentence Individuals. The United States Sentencing Commision plays an important and crucial role in the Federal sentencing process. The Commission describes its main functions and purposes as: 1) establishing sentencing policies and practices for the Federal Courts (including the well-known Federal Sentencing Guidelines); 2) advising the Federal legislative and Executive branches in developing “effective and efficient crime policy;” and 3) “collecting, analyzing, researching, and distributing information on Federal crime and sentencing issues.
The Commission’s work includes the creation, production, and dissemination of Reports that provide useful and data and information that can be utilized by Federal criminal defense lawyers for purposes of written sentencing submissions and at sentencing hearings.
Recently, the Commission analyzed the data and provided such a Report regarding the education levels of those who are sentenced in Federal courts. The key findings are as follows:
- Most federally sentenced U.S. citizens either held a high school degree (42.3%), or never graduated high school (28.4%).
- The types of Federal Offenses that were committed by U.S. citizens varied by educational level as follows -.
- Those with less than a high school degree, drug trafficking (42.0%) was the most common offense. That was followed by firearms offenses (25.2%), immigration offenses (11.5%), robbery (4.2%), and fraud offenses (4.1%).
- Those with an undergraduate or graduate degree were convicted more often for economic or sex offenses than those with less educational levels. More specifically, about one-third (32.9%) of individuals with an undergraduate degree were convicted of a fraud type of offense.
- Fraud offenses (42.2%) were the most common for those holding a graduate degree; although Doctors were equally likely to commit fraud offenses (37.6%), or drug trafficking offenses (36.5%).
- Those who were U.S. citizens with higher educational achievement had less extensive criminal histories than sentenced persons in lower educational attainment groups.
- Significantly, the sentences for U.S. citizens varied by educational level.
- Those with more educational attainment were more likely to receive probation.
- Those with more educational attainment were more likely to receive a sentence below the applicable Guidelines range.
- Those with more educational attainment received sentences that were further below the applicable Guideline ranges than those with lower educational attainment.
- Whether the Defendant’s degree was “key to the facilitation of the offense” varied considerably by type of graduate degree.
- A substantial majority of medical doctors (85.6%) and sentenced individuals with graduate degrees in nursing (82.1%) required their degree to commit the offense.
- In contrast, 29.3 percent of lawyers required their degree to commit the offense, and 27.5 percent received a §3B1.3 enhancement.
To read the full Report, go to the Commission’s website at: https://www.ussc.gov/research
Michael Leonard
Matthew Chivari
Leonard Trial Lawyers
May 7, 2024