District Sentencing

S.D. Cal. · fiscal year 20191 Oct 2018 – 30 Sep 2019

Districts › Southern District of California › Years

Southern District of California, fiscal year 2019

S.D. Cal. · Ninth Circuit · FY2019 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 2019 (1 October 2018 to 30 September 2019), 4,089 sentenced cases in the Southern District of California appear in the Commission's datafile. FY2018 had 69,425.

The median prison term was 12 months (1 year); 95% of cases carried a prison term. 18% of sentences were within the guideline range, 75% below it on a government motion, 6% below it for other reasons and 1% above it.

4,089cases sentencedFY2018: 3,889
12median prison monthsnational FY2019: 21
18%within guideline rangenational 51%
95%cases with a prison termnational 92%

§ 1Offence types sentenced in FY2019

Primary offence typeCasesSharePrisonMedian monthsWithin rangeBelow, gov.Below, other
Immigration2,45159.9%96%623%72%4%
Drug Trafficking1,28331.4%98%333%89%8%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement992.4%79%1250%37%—
Money Launder822.0%—1326%57%15%
Firearms300.7%—24—63%—
Prison Offenses280.7%100%461%——
Administration of Justice180.4%—14———
Child Pornography180.4%100%62———
Assault140.3%————0%
Sex Abuse140.3%100%120———
Robbery100.2%100%57——0%
11 other offence types, pooled421.0%fewer than 10 cases each

§ 2FY2019 compared

MeasureS.D. Cal.9th Cir.All districts
Cases sentenced4,08914,78576,538
Median prison months121521
Cases with a prison term95%92%92%
Within guideline range18%31%51%
Below range, government sponsored75%54%26%
Below range, other6%14%20%
Above range1%1%2%

§ 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%

← FY2018FY2020 →

§ 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 2019 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.