Judge Mary A. McLaughlin
September 2012: Average Prison Sentence

District Court - Pennsylvania East
Referring Agency: Department of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms
Lead Charge: 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts

Show Details   Judge Compared
To District		 Compared
To U.S.
Latest Fiscal Year 180.0 - -
Previous Fiscal Year 0.0 - -
Past 5 Years 61.2 -29.5% -12.4%
Percent not reported where cases too few to provide
meaningful comparison.
Table 1: Current and 5 Year
Average Prison Sentence Comparison

For all cases disposed of in the current fiscal year (2012) that were credited to Judge Mary A. McLaughlin in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the average prison sentence was 180.0 months, when looking only at cases referred by the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms with a lead charge of "18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts". During the current fiscal year, Judge Mary A. McLaughlin has sentenced 2 defendants compared with one defendant during the twelve months of the previous fiscal year.

Over the last five years, the average prison sentence imposed on defendants that were credited to Judge McLaughlin was 61.2 months. This was 29.5% lower than the 86.8 months typical in Pennsylvania East and 12.4% lower than the 69.8 months average prison sentence for the nation. Judge Mary A. McLaughlin sentenced 11 defendants during the past five years.

(CAUTION: The kinds of cases handled by individual judges influences statistical information about their sentences. It therefore is important to consider the breakdown of cases that each has handled, available below, when making judge-by-judge comparisons.)

Bar chart of start

Figure 1: Five Year Comparison of Average Prison Sentence
in Months

Figure 1 compares Judge McLaughlin's numbers to those for judges in this district and in the United States as a whole for cases of this type over the last five years.

During the last five years there were 26 other judges in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with information on convictions during that period. Average prison sentence numbers passed down for those judges ranged from 8.5 months to 163.2 months, putting Judge McLaughlin's average prison sentence of 61.2 months at the lower end of the range. The average prison sentence for the whole Eastern District of Pennsylvania during that time was 86.8 months.

Bar chart of label

Figure 2: Detailed Comparison among Judges for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Professional Biography

Born 1946 in Philadelphia, PA

Federal Judicial Service
Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Nominated by William J. Clinton on March 13, 2000, to a seat vacated by Marvin Katz; Confirmed by the Senate on May 24, 2000, and received commission on May 31, 2000.

Education:
Gwynedd-Mercy College, B.A., 1968
Bryn Mawr College, M.A., 1969
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1976

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Stanley Brotman, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 1976-1977
Private practice, 1977-1980
Assistant U.S. attorney, District of Columbia, 1980-1984
Assistant professor, Vanderbilt University School of Law, 1984-1986
Private practice, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1986-2000
Adjunct professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1988
Adjunct professor, Rutgers University School of Law, 1989
Chief counsel, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 1995

Program Areas of Cases Handled

Cases disposed of by Judge Mary A. McLaughlin for the past five years fell into a number of broad categories. The lead category for these cases was Weapons accounting for 100.0% of cases.

Program Area Judge District US  
Weapons 100.0% 99.2% 96.5% More

Table 2: Composition of Cases for the Past Five Years (Top 10)

Number of Defendants in Judge Mary A. McLaughlin's Cases

Case Def. Sentence (Months) Sentencing Date Program Category  
1 1 180.00 07/12/12 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details
2 1 180.00 12/13/11 Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major Details

Table 3: Individual Cases and Defendants Disposed of in Current Fiscal Year