Western District of Louisiana

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

People sentenced, FY2025: 378
Noncitizens, FY2025: 16%
Pretrial cases, FY2025: 250
Detained, FY2025: 72.0%

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	92%347	347
Prison and alternatives	1%3	3
Probation and alternatives	1%2	2
Probation only	7%26	26

Alternatives are home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement. The median prison term was 67 months (mean 90) for the 350 sentenced to prison, 1 of them to life; 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	39%146	146
Firearms	23%88	88
Immigration	12%46	46
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	11%41	41
Sex Abuse	4%16	16
Child Pornography	4%14	14
Administration of Justice	1%4	4
Manslaughter	1%4	4
Money Launder	1%4	4
Individual Rights	1%3	3
Assault	1%2	2
Environmental	1%2	2
Prison Offenses	1%2	2
Bribery/Corruption	<1%1	1
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	<1%1	1
Other	<1%1	1
Robbery	<1%1	1
Stalking/Harassing	<1%1	1
Tax	<1%1	1

All 378 people sentenced, by the Commission's offense type (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline).

People sentenced in the Western District of Louisiana by offense, FY2018 to FY2025

Offense	FY2018	FY2019*	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024*	FY2025
Drug Trafficking	60	84	81	79	126	132	91	146
Firearms	45	71	64	74	79	81	81	88
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	53	55	35	23	43	21	47	41
Immigration	35	95	54	17	7	10	6	46
Child Pornography	9	13	9	7	6	11	9	14
Sex Abuse	7	2	8	7	13	13	12	16
Other	3	2	2	5	5	16	8	1
Environmental	6	5	4	2	6	13	3	2
Assault	3	9	4	3	4	3	6	2
Robbery	0	6	8	6	3	3	4	1
Prison Offenses	5	6	2	3	1	6	5	2
Drug Possession	7	6	3	1	6	2	1	0
Administration of Justice	1	4	2	1	2	4	4	4
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	3	2	5	1	0	6	0	1
Tax	3	2	1	4	5	1	0	1
Individual Rights	1	2	4	2	0	2	1	3
Money Launder	0	0	1	1	3	5	0	4
Stalking/Harassing	1	2	0	0	1	6	3	1
Kidnapping	2	3	0	0	1	1	3	0
Murder	0	5	1	0	3	0	0	0
Extortion/Racketeering	1	4	0	0	2	1	0	0
Bribery/Corruption	1	1	2	0	0	1	1	1
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	2	2	1	1	0	1	0	0
Manslaughter	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	4
Arson	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
Burglary/Trespass	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Food and Drug	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Commercialized Vice	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
National Defense	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All offenses	252	381	292	240	318	340	285	378

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	83%314	314
Not a U.S. citizen	16%60	60
Citizenship not known	1%4	4

46 of the 378 were sentenced for an immigration offense.

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025
Black, 3 placed by CrimeDB	55%208	208
White+MENA, 1 placed by CrimeDB	24%90	90
Hispanic	13%49	49
Asian+NHPI	1%4	4
Race unknown	7%27	27

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 378 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 4 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	42%160	160
II	14%52	52
III	14%51	51
IV	8%29	29
V	7%28	28
VI	15%57	57
Category not known	<1%1	1

All 378 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	70%264	264
Above the range	6%24	24
Below the range, government-sponsored	12%46	46
Below the range, not government-sponsored	11%43	43
Not known or not comparable	<1%1	1

All 378 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	250	180	70	72.0%	28.0%
Excluding immigration cases	H-14A	201	131	70	65.2%	34.8%
Excluding illegal alien cases	H-14B	195	125	70	64.1%	35.9%

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 Western District of Louisiana, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	People sentenced	U.S. citizens	Noncitizens	Citizenship not known	Immigration offenses
FY2002	360	334	26	0	8
FY2003	362	336	22	4	10
FY2004	389	351	31	7	16
FY2005	409	358	41	10	22
FY2006	494	445	37	12	15
FY2007	488	408	39	41	27
FY2008	340	299	35	6	23
FY2009	351	285	59	7	51
FY2010	397	322	49	26	39
FY2011	305	253	31	21	14
FY2012	435	351	46	38	22
FY2013	338	243	72	23	41
FY2014	293	256	29	8	24
FY2015	238	200	30	8	11
FY2016	252	216	27	9	19
FY2017	273	247	23	3	17
FY2018	252	197	47	8	35
FY2019	381	268	106	7	95
FY2020	292	220	70	2	54
FY2021	240	213	25	2	17
FY2022	318	300	13	5	7
FY2023	340	305	16	19	10
FY2024	285	265	18	2	6
FY2025	378	314	60	4	46

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 Western District of Louisiana, 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	360	259	15	19	64	1	2	77%	4
FY2003*	362	262	19	28	50	3	0	78%	1
FY2004	389	298	10	20	59	1	1	79%	4
FY2005*	409	328	7	17	55	2	0	82%	4
FY2006	494	355	14	34	86	2	3	75%	1
FY2007	488	339	6	26	95	18	4	71%	1
FY2008*	340	248	8	5	74	4	1	76%	0
FY2009	351	284	5	9	51	2	0	82%	5
FY2010*	397	298	4	7	71	17	0	76%	3
FY2011	305	225	3	11	66	0	0	75%	1
FY2012	435	318	10	10	89	8	0	75%	5
FY2013	338	251	4	6	73	4	0	75%	1
FY2014	293	226	3	6	56	2	0	78%	0
FY2015	238	183	2	2	47	2	2	78%	1
FY2016	252	181	1	3	57	10	0	72%	0
FY2017	273	220	2	1	47	3	0	81%	0
FY2018	252	216	3	1	28	4	0	87%	0
FY2019*	381	329	3	4	42	3	0	87%	0
FY2020	292	263	0	0	23	6	0	90%	1
FY2021	240	212	0	1	24	3	0	88%	0
FY2022	318	274	1	0	33	10	0	86%	1
FY2023	340	289	0	3	33	15	0	85%	1
FY2024*	285	251	0	2	26	6	0	88%	0
FY2025	378	347	3	2	26	0	0	93%	1

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 Western District of Louisiana, by fiscal year (months)

Fiscal year	Sentence, mean	Sentence, median	People sentenced	Prison term, mean	Prison term, median	Sentenced to prison
FY2002	62	24	358	80	57	274
FY2003*	51	21	362	65	37	281
FY2004	69	30	388	87	48	307
FY2005*	64	33	409	78	46	331
FY2006	63	28	490	85	60	362
FY2007	52	24	484	73	52	344
FY2008*	60	30	339	80	54	254
FY2009	71	30	351	87	57	285
FY2010*	70	30	395	92	60	297
FY2011	61	24	305	82	51	223
FY2012	74	30	435	98	60	326
FY2013	51	21	338	69	37	251
FY2014	48	24	293	62	37	226
FY2015	58	28	238	76	54	181
FY2016	45	21	252	63	42	179
FY2017	57	36	273	70	51	222
FY2018	53	30	252	61	37	219
FY2019*	55	24	381	63	34	332
FY2020	63	36	292	70	47	263
FY2021	70	50	240	80	60	212
FY2022	88	62	318	102	72	275
FY2023	86	60	340	101	72	289
FY2024*	78	55	285	89	63	251
FY2025	83	60	378	90	67	350

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 Western District of Louisiana by offense, FY2002 to FY2009

Offense	FY2002	FY2003*	FY2004	FY2005*	FY2006	FY2007	FY2008*	FY2009
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	142	125	113	134	171	143	102	78
Fraud	62	60	60	72	90	105	41	32
Firearms	34	44	75	72	88	60	49	53
Larceny	39	34	44	41	50	66	42	41
Immigration	8	10	16	22	15	27	23	51
Pornography/Prostitution	7	9	12	9	15	19	14	19
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	6	7	12	6	10	13	10	12
Administration of Justice	4	10	4	6	9	7	13	9
Forgery/Counterfeiting	12	12	4	7	3	12	9	1
Assault	0	2	14	11	7	5	9	10
Drugs - Simple Possession	8	6	4	3	9	12	5	4
Prison Offenses	8	8	6	6	1	3	1	8
Embezzlement	7	4	3	2	5	4	2	6
Tax Offenses	5	5	4	1	3	4	4	7
Robbery	1	11	9	5	3	0	1	1
Money Laundering	7	1	1	2	2	1	10	3
Racketeering/Extortion	3	0	1	3	1	0	1	4
Sexual Abuse	0	0	1	3	0	2	1	6
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	3	3	0	0	3	2	0	1
Civil Rights Offenses	0	7	0	1	1	0	0	1
Drugs - Communication Facilities	1	0	3	2	1	0	1	1
Auto Theft	1	2	1	0	1	0	1	1
Murder	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	0
Food and Drug Offenses	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0
Gambling/Lottery	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0
Arson	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Manslaughter	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Kidnapping/Hostage Taking	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
National Defense Offenses	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Offense type not known	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
All offenses	360	362	389	409	494	488	340	351

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 Western District of Louisiana by offense, FY2010 to FY2017

Offense	FY2010*	FY2011	FY2012	FY2013	FY2014	FY2015	FY2016	FY2017
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	133	52	139	77	59	67	77	94
Fraud	40	43	62	51	60	37	39	33
Larceny	52	38	43	35	23	15	15	13
Firearms	36	49	27	20	28	17	23	27
Immigration	39	14	22	41	24	11	19	17
Child Pornography	11	19	57	29	21	13	12	17
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	19	9	24	17	8	17	17	12
Administration of Justice	5	3	11	11	10	10	10	5
Assault	7	11	6	14	11	8	2	4
Forgery/Counterfeiting	10	21	2	4	8	2	4	2
Drugs - Simple Possession	7	9	6	4	6	5	9	4
Prison Offenses	7	6	5	9	5	3	0	2
Embezzlement	7	3	4	3	2	4	6	7
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	2	5	6	5	2	1	9	4
Sexual Abuse	4	5	2	2	6	5	1	8
Tax Offenses	2	2	3	3	4	4	4	5
Civil Rights Offenses	3	4	2	0	0	1	2	9
Racketeering/Extortion	1	2	4	1	1	5	0	3
Robbery	0	1	3	3	7	2	1	0
Money Laundering	4	2	2	2	2	0	2	1
Bribery	3	2	0	0	2	4	0	3
Auto Theft	0	1	1	4	2	2	0	1
Drugs - Communication Facilities	2	2	1	1	1	1	0	2
Manslaughter	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Kidnapping/Hostage Taking	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Murder	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Food and Drug Offenses	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Gambling/Lottery	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
All offenses	397	305	435	338	293	238	252	273

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 Western District of Louisiana by offense, FY2025

Offense	People sentenced	Share
Drug Trafficking	146	39%
Firearms	88	23%
Immigration	46	12%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	41	11%
Sex Abuse	16	4%
Child Pornography	14	4%
Administration of Justice	4	1%
Manslaughter	4	1%
Money Launder	4	1%
Individual Rights	3	1%
Assault	2	1%
Environmental	2	1%
Prison Offenses	2	1%
Bribery/Corruption	1	<1%
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	1	<1%
Other	1	<1%
Robbery	1	<1%
Stalking/Harassing	1	<1%
Tax	1	<1%

All 378 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 Western District of Louisiana by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

Race and Hispanic origin	People sentenced	Of which placed by CrimeDB	Share
Black	208	3	55%
White+MENA	90	1	24%
Hispanic	49	0	13%
Asian+NHPI	4	0	1%
Race unknown	27	0	7%

All 378 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 4 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 Western District of Louisiana by criminal history category, FY2025

Criminal history category	People sentenced	Share
I	160	42%
II	52	14%
III	51	14%
IV	29	8%
V	28	7%
VI	57	15%
Category not known	1	<1%

All 378 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 Western District of Louisiana against the guideline range, FY2025

Against the guideline range	People sentenced	Share
Within the range	264	70%
Above the range	24	6%
Below the range, government-sponsored	46	12%
Below the range, not government-sponsored	43	11%
Not known or not comparable	1	<1%

All 378 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 Western District of Louisiana, all cases (Table H-14)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	418	208	210	49.8%	50.2%
FY2007	339	160	179	47.2%	52.8%
FY2008	229	109	120	47.6%	52.4%
FY2009	275	136	139	49.5%	50.5%
FY2010	266	117	149	44.0%	56.0%
FY2011	283	114	169	40.3%	59.7%
FY2012	210	93	117	44.3%	55.7%
FY2013	202	99	103	49.0%	51.0%
FY2014	142	66	76	46.5%	53.5%
FY2015	169	78	91	46.2%	53.8%
FY2016	231	95	136	41.1%	58.9%
FY2017	178	106	72	59.6%	40.4%
FY2018	212	124	88	58.5%	41.5%
FY2019	276	192	84	69.6%	30.4%
FY2020	198	143	55	72.2%	27.8%
FY2021	257	142	115	55.3%	44.7%
FY2022	202	132	70	65.3%	34.7%
FY2023	207	139	68	67.1%	32.9%
FY2024	177	122	55	68.9%	31.1%
FY2025	250	180	70	72.0%	28.0%

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

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

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	411	201	210	48.9%	51.1%
FY2007	318	139	179	43.7%	56.3%
FY2008	211	91	120	43.1%	56.9%
FY2009	261	122	139	46.7%	53.3%
FY2010	245	97	148	39.6%	60.4%
FY2011	280	111	169	39.6%	60.4%
FY2012	203	86	117	42.4%	57.6%
FY2013	189	88	101	46.6%	53.4%
FY2014	139	63	76	45.3%	54.7%
FY2015	165	75	90	45.5%	54.5%
FY2016	227	91	136	40.1%	59.9%
FY2017	166	94	72	56.6%	43.4%
FY2018	197	109	88	55.3%	44.7%
FY2019	232	148	84	63.8%	36.2%
FY2020	170	115	55	67.6%	32.4%
FY2021	249	134	115	53.8%	46.2%
FY2022	198	128	70	64.6%	35.4%
FY2023	199	131	68	65.8%	34.2%
FY2024	173	118	55	68.2%	31.8%
FY2025	201	131	70	65.2%	34.8%

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

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

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2022	193	124	69	64.2%	35.8%
FY2023	196	128	68	65.3%	34.7%
FY2024	166	111	55	66.9%	33.1%
FY2025	195	125	70	64.1%	35.9%

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