Criminal sentencing outcomes: how sentences are set and what courts impose

Where sentencing sits in a case

Sentencing comes after a finding of guilt. In US federal courts almost all sentenced cases follow a plea. The US Sentencing Commission reports that 98% of cases sentenced in fiscal year 2025 resulted from a guilty plea and the rest were resolved by trial ¹.

In England and Wales, courts must follow any relevant sentencing guideline. The only exception the Sentencing Council gives is where following it would be contrary to the interests of justice ⁵. Guidelines set different levels of sentence based on the harm caused to the victim and the culpability of the offender ⁵. Judges and magistrates have discretion to depart from a guideline where that is in the interests of justice ⁵.

United States federal courts: the guideline range

The Sentencing Commission's fiscal year 2025 runs from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025 ². Table 29 of the 2025 Sourcebook shows where sentences fell against the guideline range for 66,036 cases. It excludes 626 cases with missing information ³.

The Commission counts a below-range sentence as government-sponsored where the prosecution initiated, proposed or stipulated to it ³.

United States federal courts: what sentences were imposed

The Commission's 2025 annual report says immigration made up 38% of sentenced cases, drug trafficking 25%, firearms 12% and fraud nearly 8% ¹. More than 90% of individuals received a prison-only sentence. Probation only was 6%, prison plus alternatives 2% and probation plus alternatives 1%. Fines alone were less than 0.5% ¹.

The average sentence was 47 months, five months lower than the year before. Probation sentences count as zero months in that average ¹. Averages by offence type were 87 months for drug trafficking, 51 for firearms, 22 for fraud and 10 for immigration ¹.

The Sourcebook counts 110 organizations sentenced under Chapter Eight, 6,159 cases decided by the courts of appeals and 3,479 resentencings and other modifications of sentence in fiscal year 2025 ².

England and Wales: what sentences were imposed

The Ministry of Justice bulletin for the year ending March 2026, first published on 30 July 2026, counts 1.20 million offenders sentenced across all criminal courts. Of these, 1.11 million were sentenced at magistrates' courts and 85,700 at the Crown Court ⁴.

Fines were the most common outcome, given to 77% of offenders across all courts ⁴. 89,200 offenders were sentenced to immediate custody, up 8% on the year before. The custody rate for indictable offences was 33%, unchanged ⁴.

The average custodial sentence length was 20.1 months overall and 22.3 months for indictable offences ⁴. That average excludes suspended sentences, life and other indeterminate sentences, sentences of 60 years or more and cases where the length is unknown ⁴.

Reading sentencing figures

• Counts differ by source. The Sentencing Commission counts cases where an individual was sentenced ². Figures on defendants whose cases ended in the US district courts are a separate series, shown on the page about what happens after a charge.
• An average sentence can include zero-month probation sentences, as in the US federal figure ¹.
• The Ministry of Justice advises against using its data to calculate a conviction rate. It says prosecutions and convictions are recorded as separate records at different stages ⁴.
• A departure or variance is a sentence outside the guideline range. The Commission records departures from Part V and variances from Part VI of the Statement of Reasons form ³.