US Sentencing Commission to conduct a data and research conference in May

I just noticed on the US Sentencing Commission's website this very exciting news: "The United States Sentencing Commission will present a data and research conference in Washington, D.C. on May 5-7, 2009."  This link provides these additional details:

This conference will help researchers use Commission data by demonstrating how to find and access Commission’s data and research as well as providing instructional help in working with the Commission’s individual offender datafiles.  The conference will be held in the Federal Judicial Center Auditorium of the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in Washington, D.C. near Union Station and Capitol Hill.

The conference will provide attendees with an indepth understanding of how the Commission’s individual offender data is assembled, including how the data is collected from documents submitted to the Commission and how the data is checked for accuracy.  Commission staff will also provide training on how to use specific fields within the datafile and will discuss special problems in using federal sentencing data.  The conference will also highlight recent research by Commission staff using Commission data.  The conference schedule is available at http://www.ussc.gov/DataConf/Schedule.htm.

This is fantastic news about a much-needed (and long-overdue) effort by the US Sentencing Commission to help researchers of all stripes take advantage of all the amazing data and information that the USSC has collected and coded over the last two decades.  And the official schedule suggests that both data junkies and data neophytes like me should be able to learn a lot at this important and timely event.