Northern District of West Virginia

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

People sentenced, FY2025: 326
Noncitizens, FY2025: 3%
Pretrial cases, FY2025: 229
Detained, FY2025: 46.3%

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	74%242	242
Prison and alternatives	1%2	2
Probation and alternatives	<1%1	1
Probation only	25%80	80
Fine only	<1%1	1

Alternatives are home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement. The median prison term was 59 months (mean 77) for the 244 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
Drug Trafficking	66%215	215
Firearms	12%40	40
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	6%19	19
Prison Offenses	3%8	8
Assault	2%6	6
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	2%6	6
Sex Abuse	2%6	6
Child Pornography	1%4	4
Immigration	1%4	4
Administration of Justice	1%3	3
Drug Possession	1%3	3
Money Launder	1%3	3
Robbery	1%2	2
Tax	1%2	2
Bribery/Corruption	<1%1	1
Burglary/Trespass	<1%1	1
Food and Drug	<1%1	1
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	<1%1	1
Kidnapping	<1%1	1

All 326 people sentenced, by the Commission's offense type (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline).

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

Offense	FY2018	FY2019*	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024*	FY2025
Drug Trafficking	122	165	139	147	192	181	210	215
Firearms	65	55	39	51	68	63	58	40
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	22	16	9	12	14	11	17	19
Prison Offenses	9	4	8	6	9	14	18	8
Child Pornography	6	5	6	6	7	6	4	4
Immigration	10	9	7	2	1	3	7	4
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	7	5	7	2	3	5	5	6
Sex Abuse	0	3	5	5	5	8	6	6
Assault	5	2	4	10	4	1	1	6
Tax	4	5	1	1	2	1	2	2
Administration of Justice	0	1	0	2	1	4	5	3
Money Launder	2	0	5	0	3	1	1	3
Extortion/Racketeering	5	5	0	0	0	2	2	0
Robbery	0	2	1	1	6	1	0	2
Drug Possession	0	1	0	0	1	2	2	3
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	3	1	0	0	2	0	1	1
Stalking/Harassing	0	2	0	0	1	1	4	0
Manslaughter	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	0
Other	2	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
Bribery/Corruption	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1
Environmental	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Murder	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0
National Defense	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0
Arson	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Burglary/Trespass	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Food and Drug	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Individual Rights	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Kidnapping	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
All offenses	262	282	235	250	323	310	346	326

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	96%313	313
Not a U.S. citizen	3%10	10
Citizenship not known	1%3	3

4 of the 326 were sentenced for an immigration offense.

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025
White+MENA, 2 placed by CrimeDB	61%198	198
Black, 1 placed by CrimeDB	28%92	92
Hispanic	7%24	24
Asian+NHPI	1%2	2
AIAN	<1%1	1
Race unknown	3%9	9

Race and Hispanic origin as each person told the probation officer
Race recorded without ethnicity: split by the source's own recorded Hispanic share of each race

All 326 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. USSC recorded a race and no Hispanic origin for 3 people in FY2025: each keeps that race, and CrimeDB placed only their Hispanic origin, the lighter part.

People sentenced by criminal history category, FY2025

People sentenced by criminal history category, FY2025
I	32%103	103
II	17%54	54
III	22%71	71
IV	11%35	35
V	9%28	28
VI	11%35	35

All 326 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	46%151	151
Above the range	2%6	6
Below the range, government-sponsored	17%54	54
Below the range, not government-sponsored	35%115	115

All 326 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	229	106	123	46.3%	53.7%
Excluding immigration cases	H-14A	219	97	122	44.3%	55.7%
Excluding illegal alien cases	H-14B	214	92	122	43.0%	57.0%

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 West Virginia, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	People sentenced	U.S. citizens	Noncitizens	Citizenship not known	Immigration offenses
FY2002	269	256	9	4	1
FY2003	270	261	4	5	1
FY2004	252	238	12	2	1
FY2005	289	272	15	2	5
FY2006	377	362	13	2	5
FY2007	268	258	7	3	4
FY2008	469	419	33	17	9
FY2009	413	362	26	25	10
FY2010	286	258	25	3	16
FY2011	312	270	35	7	22
FY2012	324	309	11	4	3
FY2013	358	344	12	2	5
FY2014	345	322	19	4	8
FY2015	419	399	15	5	7
FY2016	310	279	29	2	13
FY2017	235	218	14	3	10
FY2018	262	245	17	0	10
FY2019	282	255	22	5	9
FY2020	235	224	9	2	7
FY2021	250	241	7	2	2
FY2022	323	317	4	2	1
FY2023	310	300	8	2	3
FY2024	346	334	12	0	7
FY2025	326	313	10	3	4

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 West Virginia, 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	269	239	1	12	12	1	4	91%	3
FY2003*	270	241	8	8	11	2	0	92%	0
FY2004	252	225	7	9	9	0	2	93%	1
FY2005*	289	239	11	11	25	2	1	87%	1
FY2006	377	324	16	24	11	2	0	90%	0
FY2007	268	224	5	16	22	1	0	85%	0
FY2008*	469	371	12	30	56	0	0	82%	3
FY2009	413	347	13	18	35	0	0	87%	1
FY2010*	286	246	9	12	19	0	0	89%	0
FY2011	312	262	5	12	33	0	0	86%	0
FY2012	324	277	12	10	25	0	0	89%	0
FY2013	358	290	19	5	44	0	0	86%	0
FY2014	345	285	6	9	44	1	0	84%	0
FY2015	419	319	11	15	74	0	0	79%	2
FY2016	310	246	6	14	42	2	0	81%	0
FY2017	235	196	3	2	34	0	0	85%	0
FY2018	262	219	5	6	32	0	0	85%	0
FY2019*	282	236	4	4	38	0	0	85%	1
FY2020	235	187	6	8	34	0	0	82%	1
FY2021	250	208	4	6	32	0	0	85%	2
FY2022	323	259	1	3	60	0	0	80%	0
FY2023	310	244	0	2	64	0	0	79%	0
FY2024*	346	265	0	4	77	0	0	77%	0
FY2025	326	242	2	1	80	1	0	75%	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 West Virginia, by fiscal year (months)

Fiscal year	Sentence, mean	Sentence, median	People sentenced	Prison term, mean	Prison term, median	Sentenced to prison
FY2002	69	46	265	76	55	240
FY2003*	65	43	270	70	51	249
FY2004	69	49	250	74	54	232
FY2005*	65	41	288	74	51	250
FY2006	61	40	377	67	46	339
FY2007	57	45	268	66	50	229
FY2008*	53	33	469	64	46	383
FY2009	49	24	413	56	30	357
FY2010*	45	27	286	52	34	249
FY2011	38	24	312	45	27	258
FY2012	45	30	324	50	34	289
FY2013	40	24	358	46	33	306
FY2014	38	24	345	46	30	285
FY2015	31	15	419	39	24	328
FY2016	34	18	310	42	24	246
FY2017	34	22	235	41	30	193
FY2018	41	24	262	48	30	224
FY2019*	50	27	282	59	36	240
FY2020	50	24	235	61	37	193
FY2021	55	36	250	64	46	212
FY2022	53	36	323	66	51	260
FY2023	55	33	310	70	48	244
FY2024*	53	27	346	70	46	265
FY2025	57	33	326	77	59	244

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 West Virginia by offense, FY2002 to FY2009

Offense	FY2002	FY2003*	FY2004	FY2005*	FY2006	FY2007	FY2008*	FY2009
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	159	179	154	173	242	159	319	211
Firearms	36	39	42	38	53	44	57	49
Fraud	16	8	8	12	17	15	13	13
Racketeering/Extortion	15	12	11	2	10	3	8	8
Administration of Justice	8	0	7	6	9	8	8	11
Assault	2	1	2	2	2	2	11	35
Pornography/Prostitution	4	5	1	7	9	4	10	13
Prison Offenses	1	0	1	1	5	1	12	29
Drugs - Communication Facilities	7	9	3	6	0	3	6	6
Immigration	1	1	1	5	5	4	9	10
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	0	2	2	5	4	2	4	8
Larceny	2	3	6	3	1	3	5	1
Robbery	4	3	1	5	3	2	0	4
Forgery/Counterfeiting	0	1	0	7	8	2	1	1
Tax Offenses	0	0	0	5	3	8	1	3
Embezzlement	2	2	0	1	2	3	1	3
Drugs - Simple Possession	1	0	1	5	1	1	0	1
Sexual Abuse	2	1	2	0	1	3	0	1
Auto Theft	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	1	0	3	1	0	1	0	1
Gambling/Lottery	0	0	4	3	0	0	0	0
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
Bribery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Money Laundering	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0
Murder	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Arson	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Food and Drug Offenses	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Offense type not known	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	0
All offenses	269	270	252	289	377	268	469	413

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 West Virginia by offense, FY2010 to FY2017

Offense	FY2010*	FY2011	FY2012	FY2013	FY2014	FY2015	FY2016	FY2017
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	136	143	164	208	175	247	150	79
Firearms	43	35	34	42	47	38	34	55
Fraud	15	17	24	16	12	22	16	18
Prison Offenses	20	21	14	15	18	23	12	12
Assault	18	22	19	15	19	13	10	8
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	6	7	17	20	17	14	17	5
Immigration	16	22	3	5	8	7	13	10
Administration of Justice	2	7	12	9	13	16	6	9
Child Pornography	10	7	11	8	7	4	8	3
Tax Offenses	3	6	4	2	2	4	6	9
Racketeering/Extortion	1	0	4	3	0	3	20	4
Larceny	3	5	4	4	7	3	2	2
Drugs - Communication Facilities	1	3	2	3	3	9	4	1
Embezzlement	2	8	1	1	6	3	2	1
Sexual Abuse	2	2	3	1	5	0	4	1
Money Laundering	1	3	1	3	1	3	2	3
Forgery/Counterfeiting	1	3	2	0	1	1	2	4
Robbery	2	1	5	1	0	0	0	4
Drugs - Simple Possession	1	0	0	2	0	7	0	1
Bribery	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Civil Rights Offenses	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Arson	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Food and Drug Offenses	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Murder	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
All offenses	286	312	324	358	345	419	310	235

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 West Virginia by offense, FY2025

Offense	People sentenced	Share
Drug Trafficking	215	66%
Firearms	40	12%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	19	6%
Prison Offenses	8	3%
Assault	6	2%
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	6	2%
Sex Abuse	6	2%
Child Pornography	4	1%
Immigration	4	1%
Administration of Justice	3	1%
Drug Possession	3	1%
Money Launder	3	1%
Robbery	2	1%
Tax	2	1%
Bribery/Corruption	1	<1%
Burglary/Trespass	1	<1%
Food and Drug	1	<1%
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	1	<1%
Kidnapping	1	<1%

All 326 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 West Virginia by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

Race and Hispanic origin	People sentenced	Of which placed by CrimeDB	Share
White+MENA	198	2	61%
Black	92	1	28%
Hispanic	24	0	7%
Asian+NHPI	2	0	1%
AIAN	1	0	<1%
Race unknown	9	0	3%

All 326 people sentenced.

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

USSC recorded a race and no Hispanic origin for 3 people in FY2025: each keeps that race, and CrimeDB placed only their Hispanic origin, the lighter part.

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

Of which placed by CrimeDB: the part of each group CrimeDB placed (race recorded without ethnicity: split by the source's own recorded Hispanic share of each race); the rest of each group is as USSC recorded it.

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

Criminal history category	People sentenced	Share
I	103	32%
II	54	17%
III	71	22%
IV	35	11%
V	28	9%
VI	35	11%

All 326 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 West Virginia against the guideline range, FY2025

Against the guideline range	People sentenced	Share
Within the range	151	46%
Above the range	6	2%
Below the range, government-sponsored	54	17%
Below the range, not government-sponsored	115	35%

All 326 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 West Virginia, all cases (Table H-14)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	309	85	224	27.5%	72.5%
FY2007	435	138	297	31.7%	68.3%
FY2008	348	103	245	29.6%	70.4%
FY2009	292	76	216	26.0%	74.0%
FY2010	236	69	167	29.2%	70.8%
FY2011	296	94	202	31.8%	68.2%
FY2012	318	78	240	24.5%	75.5%
FY2013	308	75	233	24.4%	75.6%
FY2014	331	88	243	26.6%	73.4%
FY2015	354	102	252	28.8%	71.2%
FY2016	194	61	133	31.4%	68.6%
FY2017	301	103	198	34.2%	65.8%
FY2018	281	116	165	41.3%	58.7%
FY2019	316	134	182	42.4%	57.6%
FY2020	223	91	132	40.8%	59.2%
FY2021	330	132	198	40.0%	60.0%
FY2022	262	101	161	38.5%	61.5%
FY2023	343	160	183	46.6%	53.4%
FY2024	356	122	234	34.3%	65.7%
FY2025	229	106	123	46.3%	53.7%

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 West Virginia, excluding immigration cases (Table H-14A)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	308	84	224	27.3%	72.7%
FY2007	418	123	295	29.4%	70.6%
FY2008	342	99	243	28.9%	71.1%
FY2009	283	69	214	24.4%	75.6%
FY2010	213	46	167	21.6%	78.4%
FY2011	282	80	202	28.4%	71.6%
FY2012	315	75	240	23.8%	76.2%
FY2013	301	68	233	22.6%	77.4%
FY2014	326	83	243	25.5%	74.5%
FY2015	346	94	252	27.2%	72.8%
FY2016	182	49	133	26.9%	73.1%
FY2017	290	92	198	31.7%	68.3%
FY2018	270	106	164	39.3%	60.7%
FY2019	308	126	182	40.9%	59.1%
FY2020	218	86	132	39.4%	60.6%
FY2021	328	130	198	39.6%	60.4%
FY2022	259	99	160	38.2%	61.8%
FY2023	338	156	182	46.2%	53.8%
FY2024	352	118	234	33.5%	66.5%
FY2025	219	97	122	44.3%	55.7%

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 West Virginia, excluding illegal alien cases (Table H-14B)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2022	257	96	161	37.4%	62.6%
FY2023	339	157	182	46.3%	53.7%
FY2024	347	114	233	32.9%	67.1%
FY2025	214	92	122	43.0%	57.0%

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