2014 Rule Shortens Sentences for 26,000 Inmates

A 2014 change in federal drug sentencing guidelines has led to an unprecedented number of inmates receiving shortened prison terms, according to data from a new U.S. Sentencing Commission study.

Federal district courts have reduced sentences for more than 26,000 inmates convicted of trafficking crack and powder cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other drugs. By comparison, more than 16,000 inmates got reductions following a 2007 rule change involving crack cocaine, according to a 2011 Sentencing Commission study. 

The new rules change reduced inmates’ sentences an average of two years, from about eleven and a half years to just over nine and a half years.

The Sentencing Commission approved the new drug-trafficking guidelines in April 2014, and three months later it applied the reductions retroactively to inmates who already had been convicted and sentenced. In approving the reductions, the commission cited a 2014 study showing that earlier drug-related sentencing reductions did not increase recidivism.

Of those who sought reductions, 26,850, or 70.2 percent, received shortened sentences, while 11,392, or 29.8 percent, had their motions denied. Although the new rules took effect Nov. 1, 2014, inmates with reduced sentences were not released until November 2015, in order to give the federal probation system time to prepare for the influx of offenders and promote positive case supervision.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency in the federal judicial branch, sets national guidelines for federal courts so that similar offenders who commit similar offenses receive similar sentences.

The following are some highlights from the April 7, 2016, report:

• 24 of 94 federal district courts granted 500 or more motions for reduced sentences. Four of the five highest totals occurred in Texas, with the Western District of Texas granting 1,660 reductions and the Southern District of Texas granting 1,339. The Eastern District of Virginia ranked fourth nationally, with 823 sentence reductions.
• Methamphetamine offenses accounted for 31.3 percent of the sentence reductions, followed by powder cocaine, with 28.1 percent, and crack cocaine, with 20.3 percent. Marijuana and heroin accounted for 8.9 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
• Almost 90 percent of the reductions involved convictions that occurred in 2005 or later, although a few inmates who received reduced sentences were convicted as early as 1989.

To learn more, visit www.ussc.gov.