How to Determine Your Federal Prison Sentence

Determining Your Federal Prison Sentence

When facing federal criminal charges, one of the key uncertainties is the potential length of your prison sentence. Federal court sentencing guidelines provide some structure for measuring the effects of a criminal conviction, but ultimately it is up to the judge to decide whether or not to pursue the full sentence within the recommended sentence range.

Steps

1. Gather information about your charges. Federal charges are broken down into categories of misdemeanors and felonies, and then further classified into specific classification levels, from 1 to 6.
2. Check to find out if your charges are outlined in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. This is a version of the sentencing guidelines majority of federal judges use when calculating a sentence. The guidelines give the maximum, minimum, and recommended amounts for sentences for felonies and misdemeanors.
3. Obtain a copy of the applicable Sentencing Guidelines document. You can find them on the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s website.
4. Determine your the offender score. Your offender score is a calculation that takes into account the specifics criminal acts as well as your prior criminal history if any.
5. Identify the sentencing range. Once you have your score, you can find the recommended sentence range by matching it to the “total offense level and criminal history” grid in the Sentencing Guidelines document.
6. Consider any potential downward or upward sentence adjustment available under the guidelines. Such adjustments could modify the recommended sentence by the judge.
7. Research other sentences similar to yours. There is no uniformly accepted sentence for any one crime.