Diving deep into many particulars of modern guideline sentencing (and mandatory minimums) for Rob Anon and others

This final week before Spring Break, we will be diving even deeper into the sentencing of Rob Anon under the modern federal sentencing guidelines.  I continue to welcome comments to this prior post if/when you want to discuss your experiences with guideline sentencing, though I also welcome new comments here as I reprint the US Sentencing Commission's latest accounting of the average sentences that modern federal robbery defendants now receive. 

Over the last few years, the US Sentencing Commission has be producing terrific Quick Fact publications (you might call them mini-papers) about various federal sentencing realities. This recent one for "Robbery Offenses" was released in August 2017, and reported that in "fiscal year 2016, there were 1,554 robbery offenders, who accounted for 2.5% of all offenders sentenced under the guidelines."  This two-page document has too much data to capture in this space, but here are particulars that seem particularly notable in light of our Rob Anon exercise:  

The most common Criminal History Category for these offenders was Category I (25.0%). The proportion of these offenders in other Criminal History Categories was as follows:  11.0% of these offenders were in Category II; 20.2% were in Category III; 13.5% were in Category IV;  7.8% were in Category V; and 22.6% were in Category VI.

The median loss for these offenses was $2,846.  92.1% of robbery offenses involved losses of $95,000 or less.  82.5% of robbery offenses involved losses of $20,000 or less.

Sentences for robbery offenders were increased for: 48.7% of offenders for taking the property of a financial institution or post office; 61.2% of offenders for using or brandishing a firearm or dangerous weapon or making a threat of death; 13.0% of offenders because a victim sustained bodily injury; 22.0% of offenders for abducting or physically restraining a victim; 8.5% of offenders for carjacking; 8.2% of offenders for taking a firearm, destructive device, or controlled substance; and 5.1% of offenders for recklessly creating a risk of death or bodily injury in the course of fleeing from a law enforcement officer.

More than one-third (34.1%) of robbery offenders also had convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).

The average sentence length for robbery offenders was 111 months.  

• The average sentence length for robbery offenders with a conviction under section 924(c) was 180 months. 
• The average sentence length for robbery offenders without a conviction under section 924(c) was 75 months. 

In fiscal year 2016, 46.7% of robbery offenders without a conviction under section 924(c) were sentenced within the guideline range.

• Substantial assistance departures were granted in approximately 11 to 13 percent of robbery cases without section 924(c) convictions in each of the past five years.
  The average reduction for these offenders was 42.6% during the five year time period (which corresponds to an average reduction of 36 months).
• The rate of non-government sponsored below range sentences increased during the past five years for robbery cases without section 924(c) convictions from 22.5% to 24.7%.  The average reduction for these offenders was 32.1% during the five year time period (which corresponds to an average reduction of 24 months).

In fiscal year 2016, 43.0% of robbery offenders with a section 924(c) conviction were sentenced within the guideline range.

• Substantial assistance departures were granted in approximately 19 to 22 percent of robbery cases with section 924(c) convictions in each of the past five years.
  The average reduction for these offenders was 41.7% during the five year time period (which corresponds to an average reduction of 84 months).
• The rate of non-government sponsored below range sentences increased during the past five years for robbery cases with section 924(c) convictions from 18 to
  21 percent. The average reduction for these offenders was 17.3% during the five year time period (which corresponds to an average reduction of 31 months).

UPDATE: It just dawned on me, as I was thinking about how much to talk about the impact of section 924(c) charges and convictions in the federal sentencing process, that I should flag that just last year the Supreme Court finally got around to discussing the interplay of mandatory minimum sentencing provisions and the discretion created by Booker's conversion of the guidelines from mandates to advice.  The Supreme Court's unanimous(!) work in Dean v. United States is worth checking out, in part because it highlights the potential severity of "stacked" 924(c) convictions.

And if you have been wondering, "what the heck is a section 924(c) conviction and why is it so significant," here is a link or two or three to help(?) on that front.