District Sentencing

S.D. Cal. · fiscal year 20181 Oct 2017 – 30 Sep 2018

Districts › Southern District of California › Years

Southern District of California, fiscal year 2018

S.D. Cal. · Ninth Circuit · FY2018 nationally

The datafile contains cases reported to the Commission with sentencing documents. Sentence length statistics use the Commission's capped variable (sentences of 470 months or longer, including life, are recorded as 470 months) and exclude sentences of probation or a fine only. Figures are aggregates of past cases and are not a prediction for any case.

In fiscal year 2018 (1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018), 3,889 sentenced cases in the Southern District of California appear in the Commission's datafile.

The median prison term was 15 months (1 yr 3 mo); 95% of cases carried a prison term. 16% of sentences were within the guideline range, 76% below it on a government motion, 7% below it for other reasons and 1% above it.

3,889cases sentenced
15median prison monthsnational FY2018: 24
16%within guideline rangenational 51%
95%cases with a prison termnational 91%

§ 1Offence types sentenced in FY2018

Primary offence typeCasesSharePrisonMedian monthsWithin rangeBelow, gov.Below, other
Immigration2,14655.2%94%621%74%4%
Drug Trafficking1,39235.8%98%364%89%7%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement942.4%73%1540%37%17%
Firearms471.2%—22—64%26%
Money Launder350.9%—12—63%—
Child Pornography330.8%—75——70%
Prison Offenses290.7%—452%——
Administration of Justice220.6%—1755%——
Assault140.4%—6———
Environmental130.3%—————
Robbery110.3%100%36———
Drug Possession100.3%——100%0%0%
13 other offence types, pooled431.1%fewer than 10 cases each

§ 2FY2018 compared

MeasureS.D. Cal.9th Cir.All districts
Cases sentenced3,88913,53269,425
Median prison months151824
Cases with a prison term95%92%91%
Within guideline range16%32%51%
Below range, government sponsored76%52%27%
Below range, other7%14%20%
Above range1%2%3%

§ 3All fiscal years, S.D. Cal.

Fiscal yearCasesPrisonMedian monthsWithin rangeBelow, gov.Below, otherAbove
FY20183,88995%1516%76%7%1%
FY20194,08995%1218%75%6%1%
FY20203,49994%1213%79%7%1%
FY20212,92796%1810%84%4%2%
FY20223,47497%2012%81%4%3%
FY20233,18997%1811%85%4%1%
FY20242,63495%1315%80%3%1%
FY20252,66195%927%68%4%1%

FY2019 →

§ 4Provenance

Source: United States Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles, fiscal years 2018–2025 (US government works), aggregated by this site; the FY2025 file is dated 29 Apr 2026. Fiscal year 2018 datafile. Counts below 10 are hidden or pooled. Errors in this site's processing are corrected at the next build; see corrections. Whole period: Southern District of California, FY2018–FY2025.