Federal Administration of Justice Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025
32 people were sentenced for administration of justice offenses in the Eastern District of Kentucky in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 24 of them (75%) received a prison term, with a median of 14 months. 44% were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY201 › Administration of Justice Offense: Eastern District of Kentucky
In brief: 32 people were sentenced for administration of justice offenses in the Eastern District of Kentucky in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 24 of them (75%) received a prison term, with a median of 14 months. 44% were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 32 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
In the Commission's "Administration of Justice" offense type, 14 of 32 people (44%) were sentenced below the advisory guideline range at the government's request. 6 (19%) were below it without a government request, and 11 (34%) were within the range. 1 person (3%) was above it.
In all 94 districts, 48% of sentences in this category were within the range. For all offenses in this district, it was 54%.
Prison Terms
24 of the 32 people (75%) received a prison term, and 2 (6%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 14 months. A quarter received 29.2 months or more, and a quarter received 5.8 months or less.
In all districts, the category had 6,448 people, 72% sent to prison, and a median prison term of 12 months. The terms are those imposed, not time served.
Pleas and Trials
28 of 32 (88%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. The rate was 93% for this category in all districts.
The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea and 16 months after a trial, based on 4 people. Among those who pleaded guilty, 96% had a written plea agreement, and 4% entered a straight plea.
Which Offenses Make Up the Category
The Commission's category covers several different offenses. The most common primary guidelines were §2J1.2 (Obstruction of Justice), used for 10 people, and §2A2.4 (Obstructing or Impeding Officers), used for 7. §2J1.6 (Failure to Appear by Defendant) and §2J1.3 (Perjury or Subornation of Perjury) were each used for 4.
These cases were less than 1% of the 4,374 people sentenced in the district.
Mandatory Minimums, Release, and Fines
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 32 people (0%). 22 people (69%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 24 months.
A fine was ordered for 8 (25%), and restitution for 4 (13%). 56% were in the lowest criminal history category, Category I, and 9% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Yearly Counts
12 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 20 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. The yearly table shows between 1 and 8 people in each year.
The median prison term ranges from 1 month in 2024 to 43.5 months in 2025, in groups of 5 and 2 people. Those yearly figures show how much a few cases can move a median, and they are not a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8 | 17 months | 7 of 8 |
| 2017 | 1 | 6 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2018 | 1 | 8 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2019 | 2 | 30 months | 1 of 2 |
| 2020 | 4 | 8.5 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2021 | 1 | 27 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 5 | 6 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2023 | 3 | 16 months | 2 of 3 |
| 2024 | 5 | 1 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2025 | 2 | 43.5 months | 2 of 2 |
What the Records Cannot Show
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included, and the data does not describe what happened in any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Kentucky East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Administration of Justice" (32). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.