NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
Criminal History Categories How Your Past Affects Your Federal Sentence
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek. We have over 40 years of combined experience defending federal cases, including the Anna Delvey Netflix series case, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct matter, and the Alec Baldwin stalking prosecution. Your criminal history determines half of your federal sentencing calculation. Even if two defendants commit identical crimes with identical offense levels, one with no prior record might face three years while another with extensive history faces eight. Understanding how criminal history categories work matters if you’re facing federal charges.
This article explains criminal history categories under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines – how they’re calculated, what counts, and how they affect your sentence.
The Six Categories: I Through VI
Criminal history categories run from I to VI in Roman numerals. Category I represents little or no criminal history. Category VI represents extensive criminal history. These categories form the horizontal axis of the Sentencing Table – where your criminal history category intersects with your offense level shows your guideline range.
Categories are determined by criminal history points. Zero or one point equals Category I. Two or three points equals II. Four to six equals III. Seven to nine equals IV. Ten to twelve equals V. Thirteen or more equals VI.
Each prior conviction earns points based on how long the sentence was. Longer sentences earn more points. Additional points get added if you committed the offense while under criminal justice supervision or shortly after release.
How Prior Sentences Earn Points
Every prior sentence of imprisonment longer than one year and one month earns three points. Doesn’t matter if it was federal or state, felony classification under state law, or what the offense was. Length of sentence imposed determines points, not time actually served.
Sentences between sixty days and thirteen months earn two points each. This catches shorter felonies and longer misdemeanors.
Sentences less than sixty days earn one point each, up to a maximum of four total points from this category. Five sixty-day sentences don’t give you five points – you max out at four.
Notice the key threshold: one year and one month. A sentence of exactly one year earns two points. Add one month – now it’s three points. Prosecutors know this. Defense attorneys fight over it. One month can mean years of additional prison time.
These points add up fast. Two prior felonies with prison sentences over thirteen months? That’s six points, putting you in Category III instead of Category I. Same offense level, dramatically different guideline range.
What Counts as a Prior Sentence
Federal guidelines count prior adult and juvenile sentences. Adult convictions count if they occurred before you committed the instant offense. Timing matters – a conviction that happened after your federal offense doesn’t count.
Sentences imposed on the same day for unrelated conduct count separately if they’re from different prosecutions. But related sentences from a single prosecution count as one sentence – the longest one.
Diversions, deferred adjudications, and expunged convictions generally don’t count unless they resulted in imprisonment. Some jurisdictions call convictions “set aside” or “dismissed” after probation – if no imprisonment was imposed, they typically don’t add points.
Foreign convictions count if they would be crimes in the United States and if you received representation or waived it.
The Fifteen-Year and Ten-Year Rules
Old convictions don’t count forever. Prior adult sentences don’t count if you were released from imprisonment more than fifteen years before the instant offense and you didn’t commit any other crime during that fifteen-year period.
The clock starts from release, not from conviction. Served ten years, released in 2010, committed new federal offense in 2024? That old conviction counts because only fourteen years passed since release.
But if you committed any intervening crime during those fifteen years, the clock resets. The 2010 shoplifting offense means your 2000 conviction still counts.
Juvenile sentences follow a ten-year rule instead of fifteen.
Stay crime-free for fifteen years and your slate partially clears. Commit even a minor offense and everything remains countable.
Status Points: Being Under Supervision
Committed the instant offense while under any criminal justice sentence? Add two points. This includes probation, parole, supervised release, work release, escape status – any form of criminal justice control.
Committed the offense less than two years after release from imprisonment? Add two more points.
These stack. On supervised release when you committed the new offense, and it happened eighteen months after your prison release? That’s four extra points – two for the status, two for the recency.
This is where defendants with minimal records suddenly jump categories. One prior conviction might give you three points normally. But if you were on supervised release when charged with the new offense, that’s five points total – Category III instead of II. Add recency points? Now you’re at seven points, Category IV. Same prior record, different circumstances, three category levels higher.
Career Offender Enhancement
The career offender designation under §4B1.1 dramatically increases criminal history category. If you’re at least eighteen, the instant offense is a felony that’s a crime of violence or controlled substance offense, and you have at least two prior felony convictions for crimes of violence or controlled substance offenses, you’re designated a career offender.
Career offenders automatically receive Criminal History Category VI regardless of actual criminal history points. Someone with six points (normally Category III) jumps to Category VI. This triples the bottom of many guideline ranges.
What qualifies as “crime of violence” and “controlled substance offense” is heavily litigated. Recent Supreme Court decisions narrowed these definitions. Many defendants who previously qualified as career offenders no longer do. Your attorney needs to know current case law – this changes frequently and can save you years.
Armed Career Criminal
The Armed Career Criminal Act requires fifteen-year mandatory minimums for defendants with three prior violent felony or serious drug offense convictions. ACCA operates independently of Guidelines but similarly depends on narrow, heavily-litigated definitions. Defendants facing ACCA enhancements need attorneys who track evolving Supreme Court precedent.
Real Examples Showing Impact
Level 20 offense, Category I: 33-41 months. Level 20, Category VI: 70-87 months. More than double based solely on criminal history.
Level 15 offense, Category II: 21-27 months. Level 15, Category IV: 30-37 months. Ten extra months at the low end.
Level 28 offense, Category III: 87-108 months. Level 28, Category VI: 140-175 months. Difference between seven years and twelve years.
Career offender with Level 32 offense, automatically Category VI: 210-262 months. Without career offender, same defendant might be Category III at Level 24: 63-78 months. Career offender more than tripled the sentence.
Why Every Point Matters
Criminal history points determine your category. Your category determines your guideline range. Moving from Category III to IV can add eighteen months to your low-end range. Moving to VI can double your sentence.
Defense attorneys challenge criminal history calculations constantly. Did that prior sentence really exceed thirteen months? Was client under supervision when the offense occurred, or had supervision terminated? Should that thirty-year-old conviction count, or does the fifteen-year rule exclude it? Was the intervening offense really a conviction, or was it diverted?
Probation officers make mistakes. They count sentences that shouldn’t count. They misapply status points. They fail to check whether old convictions fall outside the fifteen-year window. Every error adds points you shouldn’t have. Every point increases your category. Every category increase adds months or years to your sentence.
Challenging Criminal History in Your Case
The presentence investigation report calculates your criminal history. You have fourteen days to object. Provide documentation – court records showing sentence lengths, release dates proving fifteen-year exclusion, dismissal orders showing no conviction.
Prosecutors sometimes agree with objections when probation made clear errors. Other times they fight every point. Experienced defense attorneys know which battles to fight, what evidence convinces judges, and how to document objections properly.
Why This Matters to Your Federal Case
Criminal history category isn’t negotiable in the same way offense level sometimes is. Your prior convictions exist. The question is whether they’re counted correctly and whether they fall within counting rules.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve challenged criminal history calculations in thousands of federal cases over 40 years. We know how to research old convictions, obtain documentation, and prove when sentences shouldn’t count. Our team includes former federal prosecutors who calculated criminal history from the government’s perspective and know their strategies.
Criminal history determines half your guideline calculation. If you’re facing federal charges, you need attorneys who understand criminal history rules and will fight to ensure only properly countable convictions increase your category. At Spodek Law Group, we’re ready to help.