Northern District of Alabama

A U.S. district court in the Eleventh Circuit, in Alabama. Its figures are federal cases and are never added to Alabama's.

People sentenced, FY2025: 516
Noncitizens, FY2025: 21%
Pretrial cases, FY2025: 404
Detained, FY2025: 55.2%

Federal sentences

People sentenced in this court under the federal guidelines, by federal fiscal year (October to September), counted by CrimeDB from the Sentencing Commission's records. Dashed lines mark changes in federal sentencing law.

People sentenced, FY2002 to FY2025

FY2003: PROTECT Act, April 30, 2003: appeals courts review departures from the guidelines anew, and the Commission must cut downward departures.
FY2005: United States v. Booker, January 12, 2005: the guidelines become advisory, so FY2005 holds sentences from before and after.
FY2008: Gall and Kimbrough, December 10, 2007: judges may sentence outside the range with less reason given, including over the crack to powder ratio.
FY2010: Fair Sentencing Act, August 3, 2010: crack cocaine thresholds rise and the crack to powder ratio falls from 100 to 1 to about 18 to 1.
FY2019: First Step Act, December 21, 2018: a wider safety valve, no more stacked gun counts, and the crack changes made retroactive.
FY2024: Guideline amendments of November 1, 2023: fewer criminal history points for offenses committed under supervision, and a lower range for people with none.

Sentence type and length, FY2025

Share of people sentenced
Prison only	78%401	401
Prison and alternatives	2%9	9
Probation and alternatives	2%10	10
Probation only	7%38	38
Fine only	11%58	58

Alternatives are home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement. The median prison term was 34 months (mean 61) for the 410 sentenced to prison; life and anything over 470 months count as 470, as the Commission counts them.

Percent sentenced to prison, FY2002 to FY2025

Median prison term in months, FY2002 to FY2025

FY2018: From FY2018 the Commission counts a sentence of time served with no amount given as one day of prison; before, it left those out of the prison term. Counted that way, FY2017's national median prison term would be 24 months, not 27.

People sentenced by offense, FY2025

Share of people sentenced
Firearms	25%131	131
Drug Trafficking	22%115	115
Immigration	15%79	79
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	14%71	71
National Defense	10%49	49
Other	3%16	16
Sex Abuse	3%15	15
Money Launder	2%10	10
Robbery	1%6	6
Assault	1%4	4
Bribery/Corruption	1%4	4
Drug Possession	1%4	4
Child Pornography	<1%2	2
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	<1%2	2
Tax	<1%2	2
Commercialized Vice	<1%1	1
Individual Rights	<1%1	1
Kidnapping	<1%1	1
Murder	<1%1	1
Prison Offenses	<1%1	1
Stalking/Harassing	<1%1	1

All 516 people sentenced, by the Commission's offense type (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline).

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama by offense, FY2018 to FY2025

Offense	FY2018	FY2019*	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024*	FY2025
Firearms	155	205	173	158	154	160	155	131
Drug Trafficking	136	137	125	118	119	111	109	115
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	72	64	47	68	60	54	76	71
Immigration	55	46	37	5	12	16	19	79
Other	21	23	13	10	15	12	19	16
National Defense	5	3	3	12	13	13	17	49
Robbery	12	22	18	16	13	5	4	6
Child Pornography	18	3	3	12	5	8	9	2
Sex Abuse	4	10	3	9	9	5	4	15
Money Launder	3	7	9	9	9	4	7	10
Drug Possession	2	4	0	8	15	1	5	4
Assault	4	3	5	2	5	2	0	4
Tax	5	2	5	7	2	1	1	2
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	9	4	6	0	1	0	0	0
Administration of Justice	4	3	1	2	2	4	2	0
Bribery/Corruption	2	1	0	0	2	3	4	4
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	2	3	2	3	3	0	0	2
Environmental	3	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
Kidnapping	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	1
Prison Offenses	2	0	1	1	0	2	0	1
Murder	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	1
Food and Drug	1	1	0	3	0	0	0	0
Individual Rights	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	1
Stalking/Harassing	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	1
Burglary/Trespass	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Commercialized Vice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Extortion/Racketeering	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
All offenses	517	545	453	445	442	405	439	516

By the Commission's offense type for these years (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

Earlier years, under the Commission's older offense types, are in the tables at the foot of the page.

People sentenced by citizenship, FY2025

Share of people sentenced
U.S. citizen	78%404	404
Not a U.S. citizen	21%106	106
Citizenship not known	1%6	6

79 of the 516 were sentenced for an immigration offense.

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025
Black	55%281	281
Hispanic	23%120	120
White+MENA	21%110	110
Asian+NHPI	<1%2	2
Race unknown	1%3	3

All 516 people sentenced. Race and Hispanic origin as each person told the probation officer. Hispanic is of any race; the other groups are not Hispanic. White+MENA includes Middle Eastern and North African people.

People sentenced by criminal history category, FY2025

People sentenced by criminal history category, FY2025
I	58%297	297
II	16%82	82
III	12%62	62
IV	4%19	19
V	4%22	22
VI	7%34	34

All 516 people sentenced. By the category the court found, I (least) to VI (most), from points for prior sentences under the guidelines.

Sentences against the guideline range, FY2025

Sentences against the guideline range, FY2025
Within the range	66%339	339
Above the range	4%18	18
Below the range, government-sponsored	17%86	86
Below the range, not government-sponsored	14%73	73

All 516 people sentenced. In the Commission's four groups. Government-sponsored: the prosecutor moved for it, for substantial assistance, early disposition, or another reason.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Pretrial release and detention

Defendants whose pretrial services case opened in the fiscal year, and the percent detained and never released before trial, as U.S. Courts prints them. Table H-14 counts every case, H-14A leaves out immigration cases, and H-14B, from FY2022, leaves out the cases U.S. Courts classes as illegal alien cases.

Percent detained, all cases (H-14), FY2006 to FY2025

Pretrial release and detention, FY2025

Which cases	Table	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
All cases	H-14	404	223	181	55.2%	44.8%
Excluding immigration cases	H-14A	307	128	179	41.7%	58.3%
Excluding illegal alien cases	H-14B	283	105	178	37.1%	62.9%

Detained: detained and never released before trial, as U.S. Courts prints it.

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B.

Every figure as a table

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	People sentenced	U.S. citizens	Noncitizens	Citizenship not known	Immigration offenses
FY2002	512	479	27	6	9
FY2003	507	453	37	17	15
FY2004	575	481	51	43	19
FY2005	480	389	53	38	12
FY2006	517	434	45	38	21
FY2007	582	497	60	25	14
FY2008	493	424	49	20	15
FY2009	489	402	57	30	30
FY2010	432	348	67	17	21
FY2011	473	375	66	32	40
FY2012	449	340	77	32	42
FY2013	506	397	79	30	42
FY2014	448	393	49	6	23
FY2015	347	310	32	5	16
FY2016	361	312	46	3	22
FY2017	434	369	61	4	25
FY2018	517	424	85	8	55
FY2019	545	449	95	1	46
FY2020	453	392	60	1	37
FY2021	445	410	30	5	5
FY2022	442	396	37	9	12
FY2023	405	363	41	1	16
FY2024	439	387	46	6	19
FY2025	516	404	106	6	79

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Immigration offenses are the Commission's offense type for the year (OFFTYPE2 to FY2009, OFFTYPSB to FY2017, OFFGUIDE from FY2018).

Sentence type in the Northern District of Alabama, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	People sentenced	Prison only	Prison and alternatives	Probation and alternatives	Probation only	Fine only	Type not known	Sentenced to prison	Life sentences
FY2002	512	362	62	52	35	1	0	83%	1
FY2003*	507	378	32	32	57	8	0	81%	2
FY2004	575	436	26	40	59	13	1	80%	1
FY2005*	480	355	19	35	62	7	2	78%	1
FY2006	517	413	7	32	64	1	0	81%	2
FY2007	582	434	32	32	81	2	1	80%	3
FY2008*	493	371	22	29	66	5	0	80%	6
FY2009	489	382	13	22	61	10	1	81%	4
FY2010*	432	348	23	17	36	8	0	86%	4
FY2011	473	365	15	28	57	8	0	80%	0
FY2012	449	358	21	22	39	9	0	84%	2
FY2013	506	374	28	27	62	15	0	79%	0
FY2014	448	324	23	47	43	11	0	77%	0
FY2015	347	238	15	33	50	11	0	73%	0
FY2016	361	279	13	27	36	6	0	81%	0
FY2017	434	334	27	29	38	6	0	83%	2
FY2018	517	411	20	19	57	10	0	83%	1
FY2019*	545	447	31	16	38	13	0	88%	2
FY2020	453	384	14	13	32	10	0	88%	0
FY2021	445	361	10	22	32	20	0	83%	0
FY2022	442	335	9	20	46	32	0	78%	2
FY2023	405	320	12	13	39	21	0	82%	2
FY2024*	439	341	5	8	55	30	0	79%	1
FY2025	516	401	9	10	38	58	0	79%	0

USSC's sentence types (SENTIMP). Alternatives are home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement. Sentenced to prison: prison only, or prison and alternatives, of those whose type is known.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

Sentence length in the Northern District of Alabama, by fiscal year (months)

Fiscal year	Sentence, mean	Sentence, median	People sentenced	Prison term, mean	Prison term, median	Sentenced to prison
FY2002	56	33	512	66	48	424
FY2003*	52	27	507	64	41	410
FY2004	54	30	573	66	46	461
FY2005*	54	27	478	68	41	374
FY2006	60	37	517	74	51	419
FY2007	62	37	581	76	51	466
FY2008*	61	33	493	75	48	393
FY2009	63	35	488	78	48	394
FY2010*	66	34	432	77	46	370
FY2011	50	26	473	63	41	374
FY2012	60	30	449	71	37	375
FY2013	46	24	506	59	36	391
FY2014	45	24	448	57	36	344
FY2015	48	24	347	65	37	251
FY2016	51	30	361	62	41	289
FY2017	55	33	434	67	46	352
FY2018	56	36	517	67	48	431
FY2019*	59	37	545	67	46	478
FY2020	60	40	453	68	46	398
FY2021	64	37	445	76	52	371
FY2022	63	37	442	81	53	344
FY2023	63	37	405	76	50	332
FY2024*	54	30	439	69	42	346
FY2025	49	24	516	61	34	410

Sentence: prison and alternative confinement, with probation and fines as zero (USSC's sentence length). Prison term: prison alone, for those sentenced to prison (USSC's length of imprisonment). Life and anything over 470 months count as 470, as USSC counts them.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

FY2018: From FY2018 the Commission counts a sentence of time served with no amount given as one day of prison; before, it left those out of the prison term. Counted that way, FY2017's national median prison term would be 24 months, not 27.

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama by offense, FY2002 to FY2009

Offense	FY2002	FY2003*	FY2004	FY2005*	FY2006	FY2007	FY2008*	FY2009
Firearms	122	142	189	154	183	160	164	138
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	175	116	154	121	146	134	117	134
Fraud	90	87	78	58	47	82	69	62
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	13	12	32	26	36	47	28	34
Larceny	24	20	29	17	10	24	24	18
Pornography/Prostitution	11	19	16	15	18	19	17	21
Immigration	9	15	19	12	21	14	15	30
Forgery/Counterfeiting	17	18	9	37	16	15	7	10
Robbery	11	17	6	7	6	21	12	11
Embezzlement	9	12	10	7	2	11	4	2
Administration of Justice	4	16	7	2	8	3	8	8
Drugs - Simple Possession	2	9	12	6	3	4	8	4
Tax Offenses	4	4	5	2	4	8	3	1
Bribery	1	0	0	4	2	16	1	0
Money Laundering	1	0	6	3	0	0	7	3
Prison Offenses	7	3	0	0	3	0	1	2
Racketeering/Extortion	2	5	0	2	2	3	2	0
Sexual Abuse	0	0	1	0	2	8	1	3
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	1	0	0	3	2	5	0	2
Food and Drug Offenses	1	1	0	1	3	0	2	3
Auto Theft	2	3	1	2	1	0	1	0
Assault	1	1	0	0	1	4	1	1
Civil Rights Offenses	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	0
Drugs - Communication Facilities	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0
Murder	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	1
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Gambling/Lottery	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Offense type not known	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
All offenses	512	507	575	480	517	582	493	489

By the Commission's offense type for these years (OFFTYPE2). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama by offense, FY2010 to FY2017

Offense	FY2010*	FY2011	FY2012	FY2013	FY2014	FY2015	FY2016	FY2017
Firearms	119	147	123	130	124	119	122	129
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	108	74	78	96	115	51	80	138
Fraud	59	64	74	81	67	75	41	50
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	24	43	34	37	25	26	25	26
Immigration	21	40	42	42	23	16	22	25
Child Pornography	30	18	16	16	19	15	19	11
Larceny	20	20	13	27	24	2	12	12
Forgery/Counterfeiting	9	27	10	17	7	11	1	2
Administration of Justice	9	4	11	8	3	7	9	10
Robbery	5	8	9	10	9	5	1	1
Sexual Abuse	2	5	7	10	4	1	4	1
Tax Offenses	3	3	3	6	5	3	4	3
Money Laundering	2	4	7	2	5	3	1	5
Embezzlement	6	2	7	2	2	1	1	6
Assault	2	3	4	6	1	2	3	2
Bribery	6	1	1	4	0	2	6	0
Drugs - Simple Possession	3	1	1	2	2	3	2	6
Drugs - Communication Facilities	1	2	0	2	4	0	1	3
Civil Rights Offenses	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	1
Food and Drug Offenses	0	0	0	0	3	1	3	1
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
Racketeering/Extortion	0	0	1	0	3	0	3	0
Arson	0	2	1	2	0	0	0	0
Prison Offenses	1	0	1	2	0	0	1	0
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Gambling/Lottery	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0
Murder	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
Auto Theft	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
National Defense Offenses	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
All offenses	432	473	449	506	448	347	361	434

By the Commission's offense type for these years (OFFTYPSB). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama by offense, FY2025

Offense	People sentenced	Share
Firearms	131	25%
Drug Trafficking	115	22%
Immigration	79	15%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	71	14%
National Defense	49	10%
Other	16	3%
Sex Abuse	15	3%
Money Launder	10	2%
Robbery	6	1%
Assault	4	1%
Bribery/Corruption	4	1%
Drug Possession	4	1%
Child Pornography	2	<1%
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	2	<1%
Tax	2	<1%
Commercialized Vice	1	<1%
Individual Rights	1	<1%
Kidnapping	1	<1%
Murder	1	<1%
Prison Offenses	1	<1%
Stalking/Harassing	1	<1%

All 516 people sentenced, by the Commission's offense type (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

Race and Hispanic origin	People sentenced	Share
Black	281	55%
Hispanic	120	23%
White+MENA	110	21%
Asian+NHPI	2	<1%
Race unknown	3	1%

All 516 people sentenced.

Hispanic is of any race; the other groups are not Hispanic. White+MENA includes Middle Eastern and North African people.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

People sentenced in the Northern District of Alabama by criminal history category, FY2025

Criminal history category	People sentenced	Share
I	297	58%
II	82	16%
III	62	12%
IV	19	4%
V	22	4%
VI	34	7%

All 516 people sentenced.

The category the court found (XCRHISSR), I (least) to VI (most).

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Sentences in the Northern District of Alabama against the guideline range, FY2025

Against the guideline range	People sentenced	Share
Within the range	339	66%
Above the range	18	4%
Below the range, government-sponsored	86	17%
Below the range, not government-sponsored	73	14%

All 516 people sentenced.

The Commission's four groups (SENTRNGE collapsed as its Sourcebook does).

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Pretrial release and detention in the Northern District of Alabama, all cases (Table H-14)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	392	125	267	31.9%	68.1%
FY2007	539	214	325	39.7%	60.3%
FY2008	385	134	251	34.8%	65.2%
FY2009	306	129	177	42.2%	57.8%
FY2010	282	98	184	34.8%	65.2%
FY2011	338	119	219	35.2%	64.8%
FY2012	398	140	258	35.2%	64.8%
FY2013	341	117	224	34.3%	65.7%
FY2014	274	84	190	30.7%	69.3%
FY2015	281	107	174	38.1%	61.9%
FY2016	281	97	184	34.5%	65.5%
FY2017	367	173	194	47.1%	52.9%
FY2018	328	159	169	48.5%	51.5%
FY2019	403	211	192	52.4%	47.6%
FY2020	291	155	136	53.3%	46.7%
FY2021	267	95	172	35.6%	64.4%
FY2022	280	126	154	45.0%	55.0%
FY2023	312	106	206	34.0%	66.0%
FY2024	274	95	179	34.7%	65.3%
FY2025	404	223	181	55.2%	44.8%

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B, as printed.

Pretrial release and detention in the Northern District of Alabama, excluding immigration cases (Table H-14A)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	380	115	265	30.3%	69.7%
FY2007	467	142	325	30.4%	69.6%
FY2008	378	127	251	33.6%	66.4%
FY2009	283	108	175	38.2%	61.8%
FY2010	264	80	184	30.3%	69.7%
FY2011	318	99	219	31.1%	68.9%
FY2012	374	116	258	31.0%	69.0%
FY2013	308	84	224	27.3%	72.7%
FY2014	258	68	190	26.4%	73.6%
FY2015	266	93	173	35.0%	65.0%
FY2016	268	84	184	31.3%	68.7%
FY2017	319	125	194	39.2%	60.8%
FY2018	287	118	169	41.1%	58.9%
FY2019	361	170	191	47.1%	52.9%
FY2020	274	138	136	50.4%	49.6%
FY2021	265	93	172	35.1%	64.9%
FY2022	269	115	154	42.8%	57.2%
FY2023	298	92	206	30.9%	69.1%
FY2024	257	82	175	31.9%	68.1%
FY2025	307	128	179	41.7%	58.3%

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B, as printed.

Pretrial release and detention in the Northern District of Alabama, excluding illegal alien cases (Table H-14B)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2022	250	96	154	38.4%	61.6%
FY2023	278	73	205	26.3%	73.7%
FY2024	242	72	170	29.8%	70.2%
FY2025	283	105	178	37.1%	62.9%

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B, as printed.