More Prison, Less Probation for Federal Offenders [PewTrusts.org]

Overview

Over the past three decades, imprisonment has become the dominant sanction in the federal criminal justice system. Nine in 10 federal offenders received prison sentences in 2014, up from less than half in 1980, as the use of probation declined steadily.¹ (See Figure 1.) Federal courts sentenced 2,300 fewer offenders to probation in 2014 than in 1980, even though their caseload nearly tripled during that span.²

Changes in the kinds of offenses and offenders prosecuted in federal court may have contributed to the shift toward prison and away from probation.³ But sentencing policies established during the 1980s and 1990s also played an important role by mandating prison time for many offenses for which probation had routinely been ordered in the past.⁴

^{[For more of this story go to http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/re...or-federal-offenders]}