Federal Commercialized Vice Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025
The Southern District of Florida sentenced 10 people in the "Commercialized Vice" offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 10 pleaded guilty and all had written plea agreements, 8 (80%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 13.5 months.
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In brief: The Southern District of Florida sentenced 10 people in the "Commercialized Vice" offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 10 pleaded guilty and all had written plea agreements, 8 (80%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 13.5 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 10 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.
Every Plea Had a Written Agreement
All 10 people pleaded guilty, and 100% of those pleas had a written plea agreement. None were straight pleas, and none of the cases went to trial.
The guilty plea rate was 97% in all 94 federal districts for this offense type and 95% for every offense in this district. The 10 people here are too few to say whether the district differs.
A written plea agreement is a signed document between the defendant and the government that sets out the terms of the plea. The records here show that every person in this group had one, which is not true of every offense type.
Who Was Sent to Prison and for How Long
8 people (80%) received prison terms and 1 (10%) received probation only. The median prison term was 13.5 months, with a quarter at 15 months or more and a quarter at 7.5 months or less.
Nationally, this offense type had 992 people, 70% of whom went to prison, with a median of 18 months. The district-wide median across all offenses was 32 months.
Sex Trade and Gambling Guidelines
The Commission defines "Commercialized Vice" as its own offense type. The primary guideline for 8 people was §2G1.1 (Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with an Individual Other than a Minor). For 2 people it was §2E3.1 (Gambling Offenses).
These 10 people are less than 1% of the 17,081 sentenced in the district across the period.
Inside and Below the Guideline Range
Judges calculate an advisory range for each case under the federal guidelines. Exactly 5 of the 10 sentences were inside that range (50%). The other 5 (50%) were below it, and none of those reductions was requested by the government.
Nationally for this offense type, 42% of sentences were inside the range. For all offenses in this district, 55% were. No mandatory minimum applied to any of the 10.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Prior Record
7 people (70%) were ordered to serve supervised release, and the median term was 36 months. One fine (10%) and one restitution order (10%) were recorded.
80% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category. 0% were in the highest.
Few People in Each Year
4 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 6 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. No single year had more than 3.
The yearly medians range from 0 months to 15 months, and fiscal year 2025 has none listed. Because each year has so few people, the table does not show a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 10 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2019 | 3 | 15 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2021 | 3 | 13.5 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 1 | 15 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
Limits
Only people who were convicted and sentenced appear here. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted, and the records do not describe what any person did.
Prison terms are the terms imposed by the court. They are not the time that a person actually served, and the records do not show early release or other changes after sentencing.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Florida (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Florida South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Commercialized Vice" (10). 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 Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, 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.