A more formal request for more post-Booker data

A few months ago, I created this Booker data wish list to detail types of additional data I believe are needed in order to get a more complete view of post-Booker federal sentencing.  And, as detailed in this post, a consistent theme at last month's terrific event, "The Booker Project : The Future of Federal Sentencing," was that more data and more detailed data from the US Sentencing Commission is needed to fully assess Booker's impact and the state of the post-Booker world.

In order to make a more formal case for more data, my research assistant and I sent a letter to the USSC which details exactly what additional data seem to us most critical for assessing Booker's impact on the federal sentencing system.  That letter, which can be downloaded below, starts this way:

We write to laud the United States Sentencing Commission for providing timely post-Booker data on federal sentencing, and also to respectfully suggest that some additional data are critical for assessing Booker's impact on the federal sentencing system. The Commission's post-Booker work to date, especially its monthly release of data from the "Special Post-Booker Coding Project," has provided an important foundation for understanding Booker's impact.  But, with the one-year anniversary of Booker approaching, it is now critical for the Commission to build on this foundation.

Download final_ussc_data_request_letter.doc