The Department of Justice vs. The Western District of Texas Judiciary

Even for someone who loves numbers and statistics as much as I do, I am continually amazed at how much data the United States government collects. 

For example, the United States Sentencing Commission publishes quarterly and annual reports on federal sentencing averages.  This is useful information for someone who might be wondering what the average sentence for a federal drug trafficking offense might be (83.2 months nationally, while only 46.5 months in the Western District).

And that leads to an interesting observation:  a defendant in the Western District of Texas is likely to find more mercy from the judge than from the Department of Justice.

In almost every category of offense, the Western District of Texas gives lower average sentences than the rest of the nation (here, page 10).  The four notable exceptions are the offense categories of Embezzlement, Forgery, Bribery, and Tax.

However, where the Western District lags behind the rest of the nation is in government sponsored below range sentences.  Nationally, US Attorneys ask for below range sentences in 25.6% of all cases (that’s one out of four!).  In the Western District, though, the government only seeks reduced sentences in 9.5% of all cases (that’s one out of ten!) (here, page 11).

Nationally, federal judges sentence above the guideline range in 1.5% of all cases, and Western District judges sentence above the guideline range in 1.8% of all cases.

So, for the average defendant in the Western District of Texas, that defendant probably shouldn’t fear the judge – but rather, the prosecutor.

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1. Federal Pleas and Jury Trials in the Western District | Jeff Parker — January 2, 2010 @ 9:19 am

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