Federal Assault Sentences in the District of Puerto Rico, FY2016–2025
In the District of Puerto Rico, 86% of the 22 assault sentences with a recorded guideline range were within that range, compared with 48% for all 94 federal districts. 23 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and 20 (87%) received a prison term with a median of 33 months.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the District of Puerto Rico, FY2016–202 › Assault: District of Puerto Rico
In brief: In the District of Puerto Rico, 86% of the 22 assault sentences with a recorded guideline range were within that range, compared with 48% for all 94 federal districts. 23 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and 20 (87%) received a prison term with a median of 33 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 23 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.
Most Sentences Were Within the Guideline Range
The guideline range was recorded for 22 of the 23 people. Of those, 19 (86%) were sentenced within the range, and 3 (14%) were sentenced below it without a government request. None were below it at the government's request, and none were above it.
For all districts, 48% of assault sentences were within the range. For all offenses in Puerto Rico, 54% were. The Puerto Rico group is small, so the difference could reflect the particular cases in it.
Prison Terms
20 of the 23 people (87%) received a prison term, and 3 (13%) received probation only. The share sent to prison for all districts was 90%.
The median prison term was 33 months (2.8 years), which is lower than the 42 months for all districts and lower than the 60 months for all offenses in this district. A quarter received 77 months or more, and a quarter received 2.3 months or less. The wide spread between 77 months and 2.3 months shows that the group includes very different sentences.
What Assault Means in the Commission's Categories
"Assault" is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type, assigned from the primary guideline in each case. The most common was §2A2.2 (Aggravated Assault), used for 9 people.
§2A2.1 (Assault with Intent to Commit Murder) was used for 3, and §2A2.3 (Assault) for 2. Assault cases were less than 1% of the 9,794 people sentenced in the district.
Pleas and the Single Trial
22 of the 23 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. For all districts, 93% pleaded guilty. Among guilty pleas, 77% had a written plea agreement and 23% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 33 months. For the 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison, it was 87 months. One person cannot represent trial cases in general.
Release, Fines, Mandatory Minimums, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 18 people (78%), with a median term of 36 months. No fine was ordered (0%), and restitution was ordered for 1 (4%). A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 22 people with that information recorded (0%).
In criminal history, 50% were in the lowest category and 14% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Yearly Counts and Limits
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 4 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 19. No year had more than 5 people, so the yearly medians in the table, which range from 0 months to 92 months, are not trends.
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served. The records cannot show why sentences in this district were within the range more often than in all districts.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 77 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2017 | 3 | 92 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2020 | 5 | 5.5 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2021 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 4 | 41.5 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2023 | 4 | 33 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2024 | 1 | 33 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 0 months | 4 of 4 |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of Puerto Rico (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Puerto Rico") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Assault" (23). 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 District of Puerto Rico, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of Puerto Rico, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of Puerto Rico, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of Puerto Rico, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of Puerto Rico, 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.