This comment paper addresses two concerns from an analysis conducted in 2001 by researchers Steffensmeier and Demuth on a 1997 study of Federal sentencing and drug offenders. The first concern was their misrepresentation of the author’s 1997 analysis on sentence severity and drug offenders. The second concern was the errors in their interpretation of the author’s findings of the effect of the guidelines of offense severity on length of imprisonment. Steffensmeier and Demuth’s mistaken criticism, revealing a failure to understand the offense-specific and relevant conduct structure of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines is important for future research. As such, model misspecification becomes problematic with their failure to understand and appreciate the importance of disaggregating guideline offense categories in equations of Federal sentencing outcomes. In addition, they offer an incorrect “correction” for interpreting the effects of final offense level and criminal history points on sentence outcomes under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. In summation, Steffensmeier and Demuth fail to understand the importance of controlling for the guideline offense that drives the sentencing decision. References