U.S. Department of Justice
Comparing Case Processing Statistics
April 1998, NCJ-169274
This report is one in a series.
More recent editions may be available.
To view a list of all in the series go to
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#Comparing Case Processing
* Administrative Office of the United States Courts
* Bureau of Justice Statistics
* Executive Office for the United States Attorneys
* Federal Bureau of Prisons
* United States Sentencing Commission
Information describing Federal criminal case processing is decentralized. Each
of the Federal criminal justice agencies collects similar data describing
criminal case processing events. However, based on the specific needs and
missions of the individual agencies, different criteria are used to tabulate
and report these data. Therefore, statistics published or reported by the
agencies are not directly comparable. The differences are primarily due to the
way in which the agencies:
* Tally defendants and cases processed
* Define defendants processed
* Classify offense committed
* Classify disposition and sentence imposed.
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Comparison of the number of defendants processed by Federal agencies, 1996
All offenses
Executive Administrative U.S. Federal
Office for Office of the Sentencing Bureau of
Defendants -- Attorneys U.S. Courts Commission Prisons
Cases filed 58141 67700 NA NA
Cases terminated 52366 62946 NA NA
Convicted
and sentenced 45380 52270 42436 NA
Imprisoned 33136 37579 33962 35254
Drug trafficking offenses only
Executive Administrative U.S. Federal
Office for Office of the Sentencing Bureau of
Defendants -- Attorneys U.S. Courts Commission Prisons
Cases filed 20788 21528 NA NA
Cases terminated 18692 19267 NA NA
Convicted
and sentenced 16083 16461 16251 NA
Imprisoned 14432 15535 15371 15203
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The table illustrates how these differences affect the
number of defendants reported by the agencies at various
stages of the Federal criminal justice system. For example,
the difference in the number of defendant in cases filed
that is reported by the U.S. attorneys and the Federal
judiciary is primarily attributable to the handling of
defendants in cases filed before U.S. magistrates: the
judiciary includes these defendants in their official
statistics whereas U.S. attorneys do not.
The differences identified can be reconciled by
standardizing certain case processing concepts. The
agencies agreed that the Bureau of Justice Statistics will
reconcile the case processing statistics reported by the
agencies. These reconciled statistics will be part of the
annual report Federal Criminal Case Processing Statistics.
This report, which will highlight specific aspects of the
Federal criminal justice system, will conform to the
standards used in the BJS Compendium of Federal Justice
Statistics. The Compendium, also an annual report provides
greater detail about defendants processed at each phase of
the Federal criminal justice system.
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Federal criminal justice agencies
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The Department of Justice collects data on the workload and
activities of the United States attorneys. According to the
Executive Office for the U.S. Attorneys, the U.S. attorneys
initiate approximately 95 percent of the criminal cases
prosecuted by the Department. Litigating divisions of the
Department handle the remaining cases. While many
of the cases initiated by the litigating divisions are
included in the U.S. attorneys' database, each division
maintains its own separate data collection system to track
cases processed.
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts
collects data on the caseload and activities of the Federal
judiciary including district court judges, magistrate
judges, and the probation and pretrial services system. The
Federal judiciary handles all Federal criminal cases whether
initiated by the U.S. attorney offices in each judicial
district or by other divisions within the Department of
Justice.
The United States Sentencing Commission, while not
collecting workload statistics, collects data on defendants
convicted in Federal courts who were sentenced pursuant to
the provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. It is
estimated that approximately 86 percent of all defendants
convicted are sentenced pursuant to the Federal sentencing guidelines.
The Bureau of Prisons collects data on Federal prisoners.
Reported statistics include size (including admissions,
releases, and standing count) and composition of the Federal
prison population.
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Comparing published Federal case processing statistics
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While each of the Federal agencies processing criminal
defendants generally reports on the same individuals, many
of the case processing statistics vary across agencies. The
differences in these reported statistics are attributable,
in part, to the differing needs and missions of the
agencies. The primary differences in data collection
techniques are described below:
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Tally of defendants and cases processed
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While each agency's statistical publication reports on the
same 12-month period (October 1 through September 30), the
agencies' reports do not necessarily describe the same
records. Except for the U.S. attorneys, the agencies report
on those records for which an event actually occurred during
the reporting period. The U.S. attorneys, on the other
hand, report on those records for which an event was
recorded or posted in their data-base during the reporting
period even if the event actually occurred prior to the
start of the reporting period. In addition, because the
Sentencing Commission relies on thesubmission of paper documents,
cases for which documents were received after a certain cut-off
date are not reported.
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Defendants processed
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Even though there is an identifiable cohort of individuals
processed in the criminal justice system, the definition of
a defendant can vary across agencies. The U.S. attorneys and
the Federal judiciary have similar definitions of a criminal
defendant. The U.S. attorneys define a criminal defendant as
person for whom a significant paper has been filed in
Federal court before either a U.S. district court judge or a
U.S. magistrate judge. The Federal judiciary defines a
criminal defendant as a person against whom a U.S. district
court judge or a U.S. magistrate judge has taken a specific
action. (While the U.S. attorneys and the Federal judiciary
define defendants in similar ways, the U.S. attorneys report
separately the number of cases filed before U.S. magistrate
judges.) For both the U.S. attorneys and the Federal
judiciary, an individual person may be counted more than
once if the defendant appeared in more than one case. The
Sentencing Commission, on the other hand, defines a
defendant as a person for whom a sentencing event has
occurred. Unlike the U.S. attorneys and the Federal
judiciary, the Sentencing Commission counts individual
defendants more than once only if the defendant was
sentenced on more than one occasion. Therefore, defendant
counts reported by the Sentencing Commission are typically
lower than those reported by the U.S. attorneys and the
Federal judiciary.
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Offenses committed
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The Federal code defines hundreds of laws for which
defendants can be criminally prosecuted. While all agencies
collect statute- specific offense data, data describing
criminal statutes are typically consolidated into more
descriptive offense categories for reporting or management
purposes. Even though each agency consolidates the Federal
statutes using the same generic criteria, like the substance
of the offense (e.g., murder, fraud, and drugs), the
composition of these categories often varies by agency.
Unlike offense categories reported by the Federal judiciary,
the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and the Bureau of Prisons,
those reported by the U.S. attorneys are not based entirely
on statutes. The U.S. attorneys assign program categories
and charges according to the type of criminal action
or specific departmental initiative. For some offenses,
particularly fraud offenses, the U.S. attorneys' program
categories are more descriptive than the offense categories
used by other agencies. For example, an offense charged
under a specific fraud statute would be assigned a program
category by the U.S. attorneys that details a specific type
of fraud, e.g., health care fraud; or, an offense charged under a
weapons statute might be assigned a program category that
indicates Project Triggerlock if the defendant was a repeat
weapons offender.
The U.S. attorneys assign the most significant, or most
serious, offense in a manner that also differs from the
Federal judiciary, the Sentencing Commission, and the Bureau
of Prisons. The U.S. attorneys assign the most significant
offense based on the priority of a particular program
category within the Department of Justice, whereas the other
agencies define the most significant offense based on the
offense statutory maximum (or, in the case of the Bureau of
Prisons, the actual sentence imposed).
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Disposition and sentence imposed
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Only the U.S. attorneys and the Federal judiciary report on
the number of defendants in cases terminated during a given
reporting period. In describing the offenses for which
defendants were convicted, classification of the terminating
offense differs by agency. The U.S. attorneys report the
original program category assigned regardless of whether the
defendant was convicted of the charge associated with that
program category. The other agencies report the most serious
offense for which the defendant was actually adjudicated.
Each agency reports whether imprisonment or probation was
imposed and the duration of the term as well as whether a
fine and/or restitution was ordered. However, the reporting
of sentences imposed has a different priority within each
agency. For instance, in furtherance of its mission to
promulgate the Federal sentencing guidelines, the Commission
collects the most detailed data on sentences imposed and the
mechanisms for determining the sentence.
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Bureau of Justice Statistics
--------------------------------
Recognizing the incomparability of case processing
statistics across Federal agencies, in 1982, the Bureau of
Justice Statistics implemented the Federal Justice
Statistics Program. The goals of the Federal Justice
Statistics Program are to provide uniform case processing
statistics across different stages of the Federal criminal
justice system and to track individual defendants from one
stage of the process to another. Using data obtained from
each of the Federal agencies, the Bureau of Justice
Statistics compiles comprehensive information describing
individuals processed in the Federal criminal justice
system. Uniform definitions are applied to commonly used
statistics describing data from each stage of the criminal
justice process. Further, because the definitions used in
the Federal Justice Statistics Program are consistent with
the definitions used by other Bureau of Justice Statistics
programs, the comparison of Federal and State case
processing statistics is facilitated.
In addition to the reconciled statistics, the BJS publishes
two series of publications describing the Federal criminal
justice system: the Compendium of Federal Justice
Statistics, an annual publication that describes events
occurring in the Federal criminal justice system, and a
series of Special Reports addressing specific aspects of the
Federal criminal justice system, specific offenses, or other
special issues of interest.
End of File
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