Legal change and sentencing norms in federal court: An examination of the impact of the Booker, Gall, and Kimbrough decisions

This grant is funded under NIJ's Data Resources Program, which supports secondary analysis using National Archive of Criminal Justice Data; the FY2010 solicitation prioritized research on sentencing and other Federal criminal case processing. This project examines the impact of U.S. Supreme Court rulings (U.S. v. Booker, Gall v. U.S., Kimbrough v. U.S.) on Federal sentencing guideline application as a function of organizational norms at the district level. U.S. Sentencing Commission data, supplemented with district-level information, will be used to assess variation in drug trafficking cases sentenced between 2002-2009. Work products include reports and data analysis documentation that will further adjudication research, policy and practice.ca/ncf