District Sentencing

S.D. Cal. · fiscal year 20231 Oct 2022 – 30 Sep 2023

Districts › Southern District of California › Years

Southern District of California, fiscal year 2023

S.D. Cal. · Ninth Circuit · FY2023 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 2023 (1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023), 3,189 sentenced cases in the Southern District of California appear in the Commission's datafile. FY2022 had 64,142.

The median prison term was 18 months (1 yr 6 mo); 97% of cases carried a prison term. 11% of sentences were within the guideline range, 85% below it on a government motion, 4% below it for other reasons and 1% above it.

3,189cases sentencedFY2022: 3,474
18median prison monthsnational FY2023: 30
11%within guideline rangenational 42%
97%cases with a prison termnational 92%

§ 1Offence types sentenced in FY2023

Primary offence typeCasesSharePrisonMedian monthsWithin rangeBelow, gov.Below, other
Drug Trafficking1,49146.8%98%271%95%3%
Immigration1,26139.5%98%811%86%3%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement1294.0%84%461%33%—
Money Launder882.8%—1729%52%14%
Firearms601.9%—3520%63%—
Prison Offenses290.9%—5—48%—
Administration of Justice250.8%—1244%44%—
Sex Abuse150.5%100%108———
Child Pornography120.4%100%630%——
Environmental120.4%—————
Robbery120.4%—100———
13 other offence types, pooled551.7%fewer than 10 cases each

§ 2FY2023 compared

MeasureS.D. Cal.9th Cir.All districts
Cases sentenced3,18912,15164,124
Median prison months181630
Cases with a prison term97%91%92%
Within guideline range11%23%42%
Below range, government sponsored85%63%32%
Below range, other4%13%22%
Above range1%1%4%

§ 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%

← FY2022FY2024 →

§ 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 2023 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.