According to data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the most sentenced federal crime in Alabama is drug trafficking.
Alabama has 6.37 federal sentences per 100,000. Drug trafficking crimes involve knowingly manufacturing, dispensing, or distributing controlled substances or counterfeit controlled substances meant to be passed off as the real thing. This does not count all the drug trafficking cases handled by the state courts.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall explained, “Due to our state’s proximity to Atlanta, a major distribution point for drugs, and to Texas, a border state, Alabama has become a prime transit point for drug trafficking. “We see marijuana, cocaine, meth, and now illicit fentanyl coming into our state as a result. The drug trade brings dangerous and violent illegal aliens into Alabama.”
Firearms offenses, ranked second, are sentenced at a rate of 5.81 federal sentences per 100,000. Firearms offenses are committed when a defendant illegally possesses or uses a firearm. Under federal law, if you have been sentenced to a felony or have been convicted of a domestic violence crime, you lose your gun rights. In most cases, law enforcement stopped the defendant for some other reason and found that they were illegally in possession of a gun. There is some concern on the part of law enforcement that Alabama’s permitless carry law will mean fewer felons with a gun will be detected moving forward.
Crimes involving fraud, theft, or embezzlement are the third most sentenced category of federal crimes in Alabama, with a rate of 2.01 federal sentences per 100,000. Fraud is when any deception or misrepresentation is used to benefit someone. Theft is the unlawful taking of someone else’s property, while embezzlement is theft while in a position of trust over stolen funds or items. Again, this does not count all the fraud, theft, or embezzlement cases handled in state circuit court.
Fourth is immigration law violations. Alabama has a rate of 0.51 federal sentences per 100,000. Immigration crime relates to the illegal entry of the United States by a foreign national or committing a felony offense as an immigrant to the United States.
The fifth most common federal sentence in Alabama is robbery, with a rate of 0.41 federal sentences per 100,000. Robbery is when someone takes or attempts to take an item of value from another while using force, the threat of force, or making the victim fearful that force will be used against them. Robbery differs from theft because of the violence or threat of violence aspect of it. Most robbery cases would be handled by state courts, so the actual robbery rate is much higher than these statistics would show, as this deals only with the federal court system.
A spokesperson for Criminal Defense commented on the study’s findings, “It is interesting to see which categories of crime receive the most federal sentences in each state, and it is even more fascinating to see some states having the highest rates in multiple categories. At a state level, it is vital that the right resources are utilized to discover how each state can be supported in improving how frequently they have to hand out these sentences.”
Criminal Defense is defense lawyers specializing in providing legal defense in criminal cases exclusively through experienced attorneys, many of whom have previous experience in senior roles in the Department of Justice.
Data on the number of federal sentences given in each state in the fiscal year 2022 (October 1st, 2021, to September 30th, 2022) was obtained from the United States Sentencing Commission. This data was used to find the rate per 100,000 each state was being sentenced for federal crimes in various categories.
Alabama is divided into three districts in the federal court system.
441 defendants were sentenced in Alabama’s Northern District in 2021.
306 defendants were sentenced in Alabama’s Southern District in 2021.
164 defendants were sentenced in Alabama’s Middle District in 2021.
By comparison, the District of Arizona sentenced 4,454 defendants in 2021. In Arizona, like the rest of the Southern border districts, immigration offenses are the most sentenced federal crime.
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