A new batch of USSC data

The US Sentencing Commission has a new batch of post-Booker sentencing data on its website.  This new data, available here, is the "FY2008 1st Quarterly Sentencing Update," which provides an "extensive set of tables and charts presenting cumulative quarterly data on cases sentenced in fiscal year 2008.  The numbers are prepared using data from cases in which the defendant was sentenced by the close-of-business on December 31, 2007 and which were received, coded, and edited by the Commission by March 27, 2008."

Based on a very quick overview, it appear that the data show that well-established post-Booker trends, which have most sentences still coming within the guidelines, persisted through the end of 2007.  But, because the pro-discretion SCOTUS decisions in Gall and Kimbrough were handed down in mid-December, this latest data set does not really reflect the impact of these important rulings.  (The data set to really watch will be the next batch to come from the USSC, which will show whether Gall and Kimbrough changed any of the now long-standing post-Booker realities.)