If you plead guilty or are found guilty after a trial, you will be sentenced about 90 days later. Your sentence will be determined by the federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Guidelines are an advisory set of rules for all federal sentences. Your attorney will review your Guidelines with you, to show you how these rules apply to your case.

The Guidelines work by giving scores to two different parts of your case: (1) an offense level and a criminal history score. This helps the court calculate your federal sentencing guidelines.  This is just the first step.

Once the Court determines the federal sentencing guidelines that apply in a case, the Court will consider whether to sentence you above or below those guidelines by apply a variance or departure.

Departures and Variances: “Departures” from the required sentencing ranges are allowed in some situations. The judge can depart upward, giving you a sentence higher than your Guidelines range, or downward, giving you a sentence lower than your Guidelines range. Downward departures were somewhat rare when the Federal Sentencing Guidelines were mandatory. While still very important, the Guidelines are now only advisory, not mandatory. The change from mandatory to advisory guidelines came about in January of 2005. The judge now can consider a “variance” based on the claim that the statutory purposes of sentencing support imposition of a sentence below the guideline range. These factors can include the nature and circumstances of the offense, and the history and characteristics of the defendant. Ask your lawyer if there are any grounds for a downward departure or variance in your case.

The federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 3553 controls sentencing.  It says the court shall impose a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection. The court, in determining the particular sentence to be imposed, shall consider—

1. the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant.
2. the need for the sentence imposed—
   1. to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law,     and to provide just punishment for the offense;
   2. to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct;
   3. to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant; and
   4. to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational     training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner;
3. the kinds of sentences available;
4. the kinds of sentence and the sentencing range established for—
5. the need to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct; and
6. the need to provide restitution to any victims of the offense.

After the court sets the sentencing date, the U.S. Probation office will     interview you with your lawyer and prepare a presentence report for the     Judge.  Your lawyer should prepare you for this interview in advance because the probation officers is going to ask you a lot of questions that cover a large variety of topics. The presentence report discusses your federal case, your background, family, criminal history, education, career, mental and physical health, and other information. Probation may interview family members or employers and may check the information you provide about yourself. The Probation Officer may also talk to the prosecutor and case agent. Probation also figures out your Guidelines scores and sentencing range and recommends to the judge what specific sentence you should get within your range. However, the judge will decide the appropriate sentence.

The Probation Officer will send a draft copy of the PSR to you and your lawyer 35 days before sentencing. You will get to review the draft PSR and tell your lawyer if there are any factual mistakes. Your lawyer will look for legal mistakes. Then your lawyer may write a letter to Probation about any changes that should be made. Probation then issues the final PSR, which is sent to you, the prosecutor, and the judge.

You should also let your lawyer know if there are people willing to write character reference letters for you and your lawyer can send them information on how to write the letter.

About 90 days after your guilty plea or verdict, you will go back to court for sentencing. Three different people will tell the judge how they think you should be sentenced: your lawyer, the Probation Officer, and the prosecutor. Sometimes these people agree about the sentence, and sometimes they do not. Your lawyer will have filed a memorandum before the hearing, arguing for a particular sentence or departure/variance. The judge will announce the final decision at the sentencing hearing.

At the hearing, the judge will ask whether you have read your PSR and discussed it with your lawyer. The judge will then ask your lawyer and the prosecutor if either side has any evidence that they would like to introduce. This can be testimony from witnesses or documents. After hearing the evidence, the judge will ask each side what they wish to say about your sentence. The judge will ask you if you wish to say anything. It is your absolute right to speak if you want to, but you do not have to. You can say anything you like to the judge about yourself or your case but should discuss it with your attorney in advance. After listening to everyone, the judge will impose your sentence. If you are sentenced to prison, your attorney can ask the judge to recommend that you serve your time in a certain part of the country, at a particular prison, or in a special program like drug rehabilitation. The judge’s recommendation does not guarantee that you will go where you want. That will be up to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

After sentencing, you will be taken back to jail if you were detained. If you were out of custody, you may be taken into custody in the courtroom, or you may be given a surrender date, sometimes called “self- reporting”. The judge will sign a document called a judgment, which will be sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). The BOP reviews your PSR, any criminal history, medical issues, and/or recommendations from the judge, and then decides where you should serve your time. It may take a month or even more before you are designated to the federal facility where you will serve your sentence.  You are supposed to be housed within 500 miles of your home.

There is no federal parole. You will serve your entire sentence, minus 15% good time credit. The 15% credit is not automatic but is applied if you have no disciplinary problems. The 15% credit only applies to time served in a federal facility. You will not earn good time credit while in a local jail, but you will get “day for day” credit. There is no good time credit for sentences of one year or less. You will also get credit for time served, as long as you were not also serving another sentence (like a state sentence) while your case was pending.  You can also earn “Earned Time Credits” this is something your lawyer will discuss with you.

Most (but not all) federal prisons send inmates to a halfway house for the last few months of their sentence. The halfway house is to help you adjust back into the community. It has curfews, rules, drug tests, etc. You are not guaranteed to go to a halfway house before your prison term is up. If you are not a U.S. citizen and do not have a green card, you will not go to a halfway house. You can earn “earned time credits” if you program in a certain way and this may get you to the halfway house sooner. Your lawyer can explain this to you in more detail. If you are subject to deportation, that will happen after your sentence.