Published on: Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Although the United States Sentencing Commission lost a voting quorum shortly after enactment of the First Step Act in December 2018--and cannot amend the Guidelines without four commissioners--the Commission continues to do research and generate a wide range of reports.  This week the Commission released its regular annual review of federal criminal case data in a report titled Overview of Federal Criminal Cases, Fiscal Year 2021. The full report is available here, and a summary is available here. 

Here are some highlights from the Overview which was based on the Commissions receiving information on 57,37 federal criminal cases that were sentenced in FY 2021: 

  • The 57,287 individual original cases reported to the Commission in fiscal year 2021 represent a decrease of 7,278 (11.3%) cases from fiscal year 2020, and the lowest number of cases since fiscal year 1999. The number of offenders sentenced in the federal courts reached a peak in fiscal year 2011 and the number of cases reported in fiscal year 2021 was 33.5 percent below that level.
    • Despite the decrease in overall caseload, sizeable increases were reported in drug trafficking, firearms, sex abuse, child pornography and money laundering cases.
  • Cases involving drugs, immigration, firearms, and fraud, theft, or embezzlement accounted for 83.1% of all cases reported to the Commission.
  • Drug offenses overtook immigration offenses as the most common federal crime in fiscal year 2021, accounting for 31.3% of the total caseload.
    • Drug possession cases continued a five-year downward trend, decreasing 29.6 percent from fiscal year 2020, while the number of drug trafficking cases rose 7.4 percent after reaching a five-year low in 2020.
    • Two-thirds (67.7%) of drug trafficking offenders were convicted of an offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty.
    • Methamphetamine remained the most prevalent drug type. The 8,494 methamphetamine cases accounted for 48.0 percent of all drug crimes. The proportion of methamphetamine cases has increased steadily since fiscal year 2017, when those cases accounted for 36.6 percent of all drug cases.
    • The number of fentanyl cases increased 45.2 percent from the year before and now constitute the fourth most numerous drug type. In contrast, the proportion of the drug caseload involving heroin and marijuana has steadily decreased over the last five years.