A new analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) — using case-by-case data updated through July 2012^[1] — has found many cases in which there have been widely varying differences among the sentences issued by the judges within a federal courthouse. The findings about the courthouse variances parallels those of TRAC's earlier study on individual judges published in the October 2012 issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter. Note that the Federal Sentencing Reporter study is based on data through September 2011.

For TRAC's new study, only courthouses with at least 2 judges who had sentenced 50 or more defendants from October 2006 to July 2012 were included. This restriction limited the study to 157 courthouses. Overall, records on a total of 420,339 cases were examined with federal judges who had each sentenced an average of 455 defendants during this period^[2].

The courthouse with widest sentence gap in the nation was Baltimore, Maryland. Here the typical, or median, sentence for one of the eight judges who had sentenced at least 50 defendants was 17 months. At the other end of the scale in Baltimore was a judge whose typical sentence was 78 months. The remaining judges had median sentences that were arrayed between these two extremes. All but one judge had served throughout the study period (October 2006 - July 2012), and the omission of this judge did not change the sentencing range observed.

After Baltimore, the courthouses with the widest judge-to-judge differences were: Columbia, South Carolina (60 months); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (54 months); Macon, Middle District of Georgia (51 months); and Norfolk, Eastern District of Virginia (51 months). The complete listing of the 25 courthouses in the nation with the widest judge-to-judge differences in their median sentences is given below (see Table 1).

All differences shown were highly statistically significant. This means that if cases were randomly assigned to judges at that courthouse, then such differences can't be accounted for by chance variation in the seriousness of the offenses or criminal histories of the defendants involved.

As in TRAC's earlier study, there were also a number of courthouses in which there were only modest differences among the median sentences judges there assigned. There were, in fact, twelve courthouses in which the judges had identical median sentences. Overall, there were 28 courthouses where judge-to-judges differences in median sentences were five months or less (see Table 2). Most of these 28 courthouses were relatively small, with just two or three judges each. The largest was Seattle in the Western District of Washington with seven judges.

Table 1. Widest Judge-to-Judge Differences in Median Sentences, FY 2007 - FY 2012*

Rank	District	Courthouse	Number of Judges	Number Sentenced	Median Sentence (months)
Rank	District	Courthouse	Number of Judges	Number Sentenced	Median	Lowest	Highest	Range**
1	Maryland	Baltimore	8	2,819	57	17	78	62
2	S Car	Columbia	3	1,378	56	0	60	60
3	Penn, E	Philadelphia	27	4,185	36	6	60	54
4	Ga, M	Macon	4	1,017	36	20	70	51
4	Virg, E	Norfolk	7	1,822	60	38	89	51
6	S Car	Charleston	4	1,155	34	0	50	50
7	Iowa, N	Sioux City	3	1,185	46	5	54	49
8	Wisc, W	Madison	3	1,026	46	30	77	47
9	Fla, M	Tampa	8	4,496	60	24	70	46
10	Ohio, S	Cincinnati	5	995	33	6	49	43
11	Fla, M	Jacksonville	5	2,024	24	0	37	37
11	Virg, E	Alexandria	7	2,970	24	18	55	37
13	Ga, N	Atlanta	9	2,196	46	24	60	36
13	Penn, W	Pittsburgh	9	2,183	36	15	51	36
15	Minnesota	St. Paul	3	851	42	15	48	34
16	Ind, S	Indianapolis	7	1,330	57	37	70	33
17	Texas, N	Dallas	10	2,612	48	34	66	32
18	D. C.	DC	15	2,023	24	6	37	31
19	N. Y., S	Manhattan	33	7,302	28	6	36	30
19	Wyoming	Cheyenne	4	1,961	37	30	60	30
21	N Car, W	Charlotte	4	2,149	57	41	70	29
21	N. Y., E	Brooklyn	16	4,529	17	0	29	29
21	Texas, S	Houston	11	3,677	24	9	37	29
21	Virg, W	Roanoke	4	1,103	62	51	80	29
25	La, E	New Orleans	11	2,281	27	18	46	28

* Compares all federal district court judges handing down at least 50 sentences during Oct 2006 - July 2012.
** All differences highly statistically significant (at < .0001 level).

Table 2. Narrowest Judge-to-Judge Differences in Median Sentences, FY 2007 - FY 2012*

Rank	District	Courthouse	Number of Judges	Number Sentenced	Median Sentence (months)
Rank	District	Courthouse	Number of Judges	Number Sentenced	Median	Lowest	Highest	Range
1	Cal, C	Riverside	2	637	37	37	37	0
1	Cal, E	Fresno	3	2,757	37	37	37	0
1	Fla, S	Ft. Lauderdale	3	1,979	30	30	30	0
1	Idaho	Boise	2	1,584	24	24	24	0
1	Ill, N	Rockford	2	379	60	60	60	0
1	Ind, N	Fort Wayne	2	471	46	46	46	0
1	Ind, N	South Bend	2	772	30	30	30	0
1	N Car, M	Winston Salem	2	1,021	60	60	60	0
1	N Mexico	Santa Fe	2	1,643	12	12	12	0
1	Nebraska	Lincoln	2	901	70	70	70	0
1	New Hamp	Concord	4	1,182	24	24	24	0
1	Texas, E	Tyler	2	1,418	48	48	48	0
13	N Car, E	Raleigh	2	1,087	72	71	72	1
13	Texas, S	Brownsville	2	7,743	13	12	13	1
15	Cal, N	San Jose	3	694	27	24	27	3
15	Ga, N	Rome	2	340	59	57	60	3
15	Ken, E	Covington	2	707	29	27	30	3
15	Ken, E	London	2	706	32	30	33	3
15	Oregon	Eugene	2	864	29	27	30	3
15	Penn, M	Williamsport	2	300	23	21	24	3
15	R. I.	Providence	3	865	37	36	39	3
15	Texas, S	McAllen	3	16,402	18	18	21	3
23	Ga, N	Atlanta/Gainesville	2	556	38	36	40	4
23	Mich, E	Flint	2	215	39	37	41	4
23	Texas, W	El Paso	4	19,194	9	6	10	4
26	Miss, N	Oxford	2	378	33	30	35	5
26	Ohio, N	Akron	3	920	37	32	37	5
26	Wash, W	Seattle	7	2,686	24	23	29	5

* Compares all federal district court judges handing down at least 50 sentences during Oct 2006 - July 2012.

Surprising Sentencing Deviations in Federal Courthouses