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# Federal Commercialized Vice Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-commercialized-vice-sentences-western-district-of-texas/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:08:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:08:05.000Z
- Description: The Western District of Texas sentenced 15 people for commercialized vice offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2024. All 15 pleaded guilty and all 15 received a prison term, with a median of 30 months (2.5 years). The count is small, so the numbers describe a handful of cases and not a pattern.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-western-district-of-texas/) › Commercialized Vice: Western District of Texas

**In brief:** The Western District of Texas sentenced 15 people for commercialized vice offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2024\. All 15 pleaded guilty and all 15 received a prison term, with a median of 30 months (2.5 years). The count is small, so the numbers describe a handful of cases and not a pattern.

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 15 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## A Very Small Group of Cases

Commercialized vice is one of the offense types the U.S. Sentencing Commission uses to sort cases. In the Western District of Texas, 15 people were sentenced in this category in fiscal years 2016 to 2024\. Across all offenses, the district sentenced 76,480 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, so these cases were less than 1% of its total.

Nationwide, all 94 federal districts together sentenced 992 people in this category. The Western District of Texas count is small enough that a single case can change any percentage in this post.

## Prison Terms

All 15 people (100%) received a prison term. None received probation only. The median prison term was 30 months. A quarter received 51.5 months or more, and a quarter received 21 months or less.

Across all districts, 70% of people in this offense type were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 18 months. In this district, the share sent to prison and the median were both higher than the national figures. For all offenses in the Western District of Texas, the median prison term was 10 months.

The prison terms are the terms imposed by the judge, not the time actually served.

## Which Guidelines Applied

The most common primary guideline was §2G1.1 (Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with an Individual Other than a Minor), which applied to 13 of the 15 people. The other primary guideline listed was §2E3.1 (Gambling Offenses), which applied to 2.

The primary guideline is the one the court used to calculate the sentencing range. It does not list every charge in a case.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 3                | 57 months     | 3 of 3         |
| 2017        | 1                | 18 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2018        | 1                | 24 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2019        | 2                | 38 months     | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 1                | 27 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2022        | 3                | 18 months     | 3 of 3         |
| 2023        | 1                | 96 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2024        | 3                | 37 months     | 3 of 3         |

## Pleas and Plea Agreements

All 15 people pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Nationally, 97% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty. For all offenses in this district, guilty pleas were more than 99%.

Among the guilty pleas, 80% had a written plea agreement and 20% were straight pleas with no agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 15 people with that information recorded.

## Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range

The guideline range is the sentencing range calculated under the Commission's guidelines. For 12 of the 15 people (80%), the sentence was within the range. For 3 (20%), the sentence was above the range. None was below the range, with or without a request from the government.

Across all districts, 42% of sentences in this offense type were within the range. For all offenses in the Western District of Texas, the figure was 77%.

## After Prison and Other Penalties

All 15 people were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (20%), and restitution for 4 (27%).

Among the 15, 53% were in the lowest criminal history category and 7% were in the highest category. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that measure has no military counterpart.

## Year by Year, and What the Records Cannot Show

Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 7 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 8\. The table lists the median prison term for each year with cases. Each year has between 1 and 3 people, so the yearly medians are not reliable measures of change over time.

The Commission's data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. It does not include acquittals, dismissals, or cases that were never charged. It cannot show what conduct led to each sentence.

Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, and Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland are in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal court.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Texas (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Texas West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Commercialized Vice" (15). 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [Federal Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-western-district-of-texas/) (overview)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-western-district-of-texas/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-western-district-of-texas/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-western-district-of-texas/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Texas, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-western-district-of-texas/) (same district, other offense type)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.