Frequently asked questions.

If a brief you receive is not usable for plea or sentencing preparation — missing data, incorrect cell, formatting problems — reply to the delivery email within 7 days. We will correct the brief or refund the purchase. No questions asked.

Briefs require at least 10 comparable cases for a defensible distribution. If your cell is too rare — which happens in low-volume districts or unusual charge/history combinations — you will receive a same-day full refund. No charge to you. You can retry with a broader cell or a different district scope.

The primary source is the U.S. Sentencing Commission annual individual-case datafile, which covers every federal case sentenced under the Guidelines since FY 1987 (ussc.gov/research/datafiles). Active products draw exclusively from this datafile. CourtListener and FJC Integrated Database integrations will be cited in any future product where they are used, with the same data-source citation discipline.

No. The briefs are structured data exhibits — numbers, distributions, and verified citations drawn from public datasets. We do not use large language models to generate text in the briefs. The motion-language block in the JSIN Exclusion Brief is a fixed template with cell-specific values substituted in, not AI-generated prose.

JSIN reports a subset of the USSC's data — it excludes non-imprisonment sentences, cooperation departures, and mandatory-minimum-controlled cases from its published cell statistics. A Sentencing Snapshot includes the full USSC distribution for the cell, with the excluded slices broken out and explained. The JSIN Exclusion Brief quantifies the exclusion accounting and provides § 3006A motion language.

USSC annual datafiles are released each fall, covering the fiscal year ending September 30. We update our working dataset within 30 days of each annual release. The brief you receive identifies the USSC datafile vintage in the header.

PDF, delivered to the email address you provide at checkout. Typically within 60 seconds of payment. The PDF is formatted as a litigation exhibit — designed to be printed or embedded in a filing without reformatting.

Not yet as a standalone product. Compassionate release comparables and Amendment 821 impact exhibits are both on the product roadmap. Join the waitlist on the relevant waitlist page and we will email you when those products launch.

No. All current products are scoped to federal Guidelines cases in the USSC dataset. State-level sentencing data is not published in comparable form, and our current data infrastructure does not cover it. This is unlikely to change in the near term.

No. Nothing in a BenchRecon brief constitutes legal advice, legal representation, or an attorney-client relationship. The brief is a public-records research exhibit. Your judgment as licensed counsel governs how it is used, whether it is disclosed, and whether it is appropriate for your client's case.

We are recruiting closed-beta participants from federal public defenders and CJA-panel attorneys in Northern California and Western Washington. Beta participants will receive early access to new products and direct input into what gets built. If you fit that description and want to be considered, email support@benchrecon.com with your bar number and practice description.

We are designing a firm subscription tier. If you are a PD office or a firm handling a significant federal caseload and want to discuss volume pricing, email support@benchrecon.com. We will work out the right arrangement.