You can think about getting arrest records, conviction records, and sex offender records.

Two primary reasons are behind this phenomenon.; Both reasons suggest that this phenomenon arises out of legislation from 20 years ago that created the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and abolished parole.

First, prison sentences are longer so inmates are spending more time in federal prison.; For the past 20 years, anyone convicted of a federal crime was sentenced pursuant to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.; These were not guidelines in the traditional sense.; The Guidelines required federal judges to sentence defendants to terms within limited prescribed ranges.; The length of sentences was determined by factors such as the amount of money and number of victims involved in the crime.; For purposes of determining the length of a sentence, the perspective shifted away from the offender and onto the victims.;

Consistent with the shift away from rehabilitation and toward retribution, Congress repealed parole at the same time it enacted the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.; For the past 20 years, federal inmates have been sentenced to substantial terms without the possibility of parole.;