Part 1: Base Offense Levels

The first part of this series will focus on the foundation of a federal sentence. It is referred to as the “Base Offense Level” and is where the calculations of a federal sentence recommendation starts. This is, by a wide margin, the most simple piece to federal sentencing. All federal crimes come with a base-number that starts the calculations for a basic sentencing recommendation.

Different crimes have different minimum standards that must be met before a crime is able to be prosecuted. For example, a Wire Fraud prosecution must have elements of deceit, use of electronic payment transfers, and a few other elements of interstate commerce before it can be considered a federal crime.

The Base Offense Level considers what, at a minimum, a punishment should be if a conviction is secured against a defendant for that specific crime. Therefore, the base offense level is the starting point. The point at which the prosecutor can start building a higher sentence upon.

For most offenses, a Base Offense Level will start with a single-digit number. For Wire Fraud and many other financial crimes, the base offense level is either 6, or 7 (if the specific crime carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years or more).

Sound confusing yet? It gets very complex the further into the subject you get. But, for base offense levels, there is usually a mid-single-digit number that is associated with the crime category (financial, drug, immigration, etc.) that starts the sentence computation.

In Part 2 of this series, the adjustments to the base offense level are explored in detail.

 

Go to the the Intro/Primer Go to Part 2: Offense Level Adjustments  Go to Part 3: Criminal History Category

About PCR Consultants

PCR Consultants started 8 years ago as a small consulting and document preparation firm specializing in federal criminal cases. Specifically, we started helping clients who couldn’t afford, or didn’t want, a private defense attorney to help them apply for early release from federal probation.

Today we help clients in all phases of federal prosecution, from arrest to probation. We even do pardon applications. For a free consultation about federal sentencing questions, e-mail us at info@pcr-consultants.com or give us a call at (480) 382-9287.