Federal Administration of Justice Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025
24 people were sentenced for administration of justice offenses in the Eastern District of Tennessee in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 16 (67%) received a prison term, with a median of 10 months. 5 (21%) received probation only. The all-districts median for this offense type was 12 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY20 › Administration of Justice Offense: Eastern District of Tennessee
In brief: 24 people were sentenced for administration of justice offenses in the Eastern District of Tennessee in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 16 (67%) received a prison term, with a median of 10 months. 5 (21%) received probation only. The all-districts median for this offense type was 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 24 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.
Prison for 67% of the Group
The Commission's "Administration of Justice" offense type includes obstruction, perjury, and related cases. In this district, 24 people were sentenced in this category, which is less than 1% of the 6,452 people sentenced.
16 of the 24 (67%) received a prison term, and 5 (21%) received probation only. In all 94 districts, 72% of the 6,448 people in this category were sent to prison. The share here is lower.
Length of Prison Terms
The median prison term was 10 months. A quarter received 24.8 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. The all-districts median was 12 months, which is higher. The median for all offenses in the district was 70 months.
The median was 10 months after a guilty plea, and also 10 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on 1 person.
Pleas
23 of 24 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. For all districts in this category, 93% pleaded guilty. For all offenses in the district, 98% did.
Among guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Guideline Range Comparison
The guideline range is the sentence range calculated under the federal Sentencing Guidelines. 14 of the 24 sentences (58%) were within the range. 5 (21%) were below the range at the government's request, and 3 (13%) were below it without a government request. 2 (8%) were above the range.
Across all districts, 48% were within the range, the same share as for all offenses in this district. No one had a mandatory minimum prison term recorded among the 22 with that information.
Guidelines Used
The most common primary guidelines were §2A2.4 (Obstructing or Impeding Officers) with 7 people and §2J1.2 (Obstruction of Justice) with 7. §2J1.3 (Perjury or Subornation of Perjury) applied to 4, and §2X4.1 (Misprision of Felony) to 2.
In criminal history terms, 58% were in category I, the lowest, and 8% were in category VI, the highest.
Supervised Release and Financial Orders
15 people (63%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 2 (8%), and restitution for 1 (4%).
Counts by Fiscal Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 8 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 16. Some years have no sentences, and the largest year in the table is fiscal year 2024 with 8 people. The medians range from 0 months to 144 months, but the groups have 1 to 8 people each, so the table shows no trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | 11.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2017 | 3 | 0 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2019 | 1 | 10 months | 0 of 1 |
| 2020 | 3 | 24 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2021 | 2 | 144 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2024 | 8 | 8.8 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2025 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
Limits of the Data
Only people convicted and sentenced are counted, so acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served, and the records give no facts about any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Tennessee East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Administration of Justice" (24). 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 Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Money Laundering Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, 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.