2009 Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual

The 2009 Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual is available. It is effective as of November 1, 2009.

[The manual] is available in HTML and Adobe .PDF formats (large file and broken into chapters), which can be viewed, downloaded or printed via the website.

2006 United States Code Available Online

The United States Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States based on what is printed in the Statutes at Large. It is divided by broad subjects into 50 titles and published by the Office of law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The USC has been published since 1926 every six (6) years. To stay current, annual cumulative supplements are published in between the years. The GPO Access has the 1994, 2000, and now even the 2006 versions of the United States Code, including the annual supplements. Files are available in ASCII Text from the 1994 edition forward and Portable Document Format (PDF) from the 2006 edition forward.

Limited Definition of 'Violent Felony'

As posted on SCOTUS Blog titled Court limits 'violent felony' definition, the Supreme Court ruled on January 13, 2009 that the crime of failure to report to jail or prison to serve a sentence is not the same as an escape, and is not a 'violent felony' that can lead to a longer prison term under federal law. In Chambers v. United States, No. 06-11206, 2009 U.S. Dist. Westlaw 63882 (Jan. 13, 2009) Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court, and Justice Alito with whom Justice Thomas joined, concurred in the judgment. More information can be found on the SCOTUS WIKI.