US Sentencing Commission releases updated "Compassionate Release Data Report" covering all of 2020 and first half of 2021
As detailed in prior posts here and here, a few months ago the US Sentencing Commission started releasing short data report titled "Compassionate Release Data." Though these reports provide only some very basic accounting of the grants and denials of federal compassionate release motions nationwide, they still provide the only "official" accounting of who is getting relief and some of the basics surrounding their demographics.
Exciting, the latest of these reports was released today at this link and "reflects compassionate release motions decided by the courts during calendar years 2020 and 2021 (January 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021)." Table 1 of the report shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the number of these motions brought and the grant rate declined though the first six months of 2021. I presume that could reflect the fact that lots of the strongest cases may have received release in 2020 and also concerns about COVID started declining as vaccines became available to federal prisoners.
As I have said before, I hope that the US Sentencing Commission not only continues to release more data on these cases, but also a lot more granular data and analyses about sentencing reduction grants. I also hope the USSC will (a) track recidivism rates for this population over time, and (b) discuss which guidelines might be still producing excessively long sentences in retrospect as documented through these grants. The kind of second-look sentencing mechanism now operating the the federal system is not only valuable and important as a means to achieve better justice in individual cases, but also should serve as an important feedback loop providing a kind of on-going audit of the operation of the entire federal sentencing system.
A few of many prior related posts:
- US Sentencing Commission releases fascinating (and bare bones) "Compassionate Release Data Report"
- US Sentencing Commission releases more detailed "Compassionate Release Data Report" for 2020
- More good coverage of the not-so-good (but still not-so-bad) realities of federal compassionate release realities
- Notable data on BOP resistance to compassionate release requests from federal prisoners
- "How Compassionate? Political Appointments and District Court Judge Responses to Compassionate Release during COVID-19"
- Tangible example of continuing big sentence reductions in COVID era thanks to the FIRST STEP Act
- Spotlighting remarkable (but still cursory) data on "compassionate release" after FIRST STEP Act
- Notable new review and accounting of COVID and federal compassionate release results
- Another dive into the ugly BOP realities of federal compassionate release during the pandemic
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