Sentencing Commission Historical Materials

Posted here in searchable PDF format are various older public records obtained from the United States Sentencing Commission (or repository library) that were not available on the Commission's website when they were obtained. In recent years, the Commission has been adding older public-record documents to its website. If you are seeking to conduct an exhaustive search of historical Commission materials on a particular topic, we recommend that you look both here and at the materials on the Commission's website, see here, and also search the Federal Register database on Westlaw or LEXIS (where the Commission publishes every proposed and final action).

Think of this as a library or repository for primary documents. The documents are arranged by category (public comment, transcripts, testimony, reports), so this resource will be most useful when you have already targeted an amendment for an inquiry into its “legislative history” and you know the amendment cycle[s] in which the issue was under consideration. This information can be obtained by looking at the Historical Note in the Manual at the end of the guideline or policy statement at issue, then at the “Reason for Amendment” in Appendix C.