Federal Commercialized Vice Sentences in the Southern District of New York, FY2016–2025
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 75 people were sentenced in the Southern District of New York for the Commission's offense type "Commercialized Vice". Of those, 60 (80%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 3.5 months. For the same offense type in all 94 federal districts, the medi
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In brief: From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 75 people were sentenced in the Southern District of New York for the Commission's offense type "Commercialized Vice". Of those, 60 (80%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 3.5 months. For the same offense type in all 94 federal districts, the median prison term was 18 months. Most cases were under the gambling guideline, and the yearly counts are small.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 75 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.
How Long Were the Prison Terms?
Among the people sent to prison, the median prison term was 3.5 months. A quarter received 15 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
In all 94 districts together, 70% of people with this offense type were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 18 months. In this district the share sent to prison was higher (80%), and the median term was lower. Another 11 people (15%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
What Does Commercialized Vice Include?
Commercialized Vice is a category of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, not a single statute. The records group cases by the primary guideline the court applied.
The most common primary guideline was §2E3.1 (Gambling Offenses), with 51 people. Next was §2G1.1 (Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with an Individual Other than a Minor), with 22 people. One person was sentenced under §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact).
These cases were less than 1% of the 12,035 people sentenced in this district over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. For all offenses in the district, the median prison term was 33 months.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
71 of the 75 people (95%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. Across all districts, 97% of people with this offense type pleaded guilty. For all offenses in this district, the rate was 95%.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 3 months. After a trial it was 133.5 months, but that figure rests on only 4 people. A group that small cannot show how trial and plea sentences usually compare.
Among the guilty pleas, 94% had a written plea agreement, and 6% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range the court calculates under the Sentencing Guidelines. For 31% of these people (23), the sentence was within the range. For 19% (14), it was below the range at the government's request. For 43% (32), it was below the range without a government request. For 8% (6), it was above the range.
Sentences within the range were 42% of cases for this offense type in all districts, and 22% of all cases in this district. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 74 people with that information recorded (3%).
Counts by Fiscal Year
A federal fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends the following September. In fiscal years 2016 to 2019, 51 people were sentenced. In fiscal years 2020 to 2025, 24 people were sentenced.
The table shows how uneven the yearly counts are. Fiscal year 2018 had 30 people, and fiscal year 2024 had 1. With counts this small, a single year's median is not a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3 | 14 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2017 | 10 | 1.6 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 30 | 1.6 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 8 | 24 months | 6 of 8 |
| 2020 | 5 | 0 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2021 | 3 | 132 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 4 | 40 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2023 | 9 | 0 months | 8 of 9 |
| 2024 | 1 | 1.8 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 12 months | 2 of 2 |
Supervised Release, Fines, and What the Records Cannot Show
55 people (73%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. One person (1%) received supervised release for life. A fine was ordered for 18 people (24%), and restitution for 9 (12%).
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 71% of the people, and category VI, the highest, applied to 4%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and the data does not describe what happened in any individual case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of New York (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "New York South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Commercialized Vice" (75). 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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 New York, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of New York, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of New York, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of New York, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Robbery Sentences in the Southern District of New York, 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.