Using data compiled by the United States Sentencing Commission, we examine whether defendants sentenced in US federal courts are shown leniency based on their age, paying particular attention to the outcomes of older defendants (age 50 and over). One way in which this research is unique is that it focuses exclusively on a sample of older offenders and makes more precise distinctions by separately examining three categories of ‘elderly’ offenders – the ‘young-old,’ the ‘middle-old,’ and the ‘oldestold.’ Consistent with prior research, our findings indicate an age leniency effect where younger defendants (the ‘young-old’) had the highest odds and older defendants (the ‘oldest-old’) had the lowest odds of incarceration. However, contrary to expectations, this finding does not hold for the sentence length decision. Legal factors (criminal history, number of counts, going to trial) also played a large role in increasing the likelihood and length of their sentence outcomes. In addition, variations were found across different types of offense categories. The findings in this study point to the importance of making clearer distinctions between the ‘elderly’ offender populations and suggest that findings may be masked if differences between the ‘young-old’ and the ‘old-old’ are not considered. Our results indicate the need for continued exploration of issues dealing specifically with the aging prison population, as well as the examination of policies and practices that impact offenders of all ages.