Immigration and Sentencing: Early Disposition Departures, Sentence Discount, and Length of Sentence

This study examines the role country-of-origin plays in immigration sentencing, with a particular focus on early disposition departures, sentence discount, and sentence length. Using data from the 2020 to 2021 Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentences, we examine how a variety of case-level variables, including region-of-origin, affect immigration sentencing outcomes. We found that persons from Latin American and Caribbean countries were less likely to receive those departures, but we did not find differences by region-of-origin for sentence discount. While region-of-origin may affect the departure decision, the magnitude of discounts that come from these departures appears to be more influenced by legally-relevant variables.