Federal Crack Cocaine Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
The median federal prison term for crack cocaine trafficking in fiscal year 2023 was 50.5 months (4.2 years), the lowest yearly median in the fiscal year 2016 to 2025 table. For all §2D1.1 drug trafficking cases that year, the median was 65 months. The Sentencing Commission counted 855 people senten
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Drug Distribution and Importation › Crack Cocaine: FY2023
In brief: The median federal prison term for crack cocaine trafficking in fiscal year 2023 was 50.5 months (4.2 years), the lowest yearly median in the fiscal year 2016 to 2025 table. For all §2D1.1 drug trafficking cases that year, the median was 65 months. The Sentencing Commission counted 855 people sentenced for crack cocaine.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 855 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
The Lowest Median in the Table
Every other fiscal year in the crack cocaine table has a median prison term of 60 months or more. Fiscal year 2023 has 50.5 months.
This median was also lower than the median for drug trafficking as a whole. All 18,640 people sentenced under §2D1.1 in fiscal year 2023, every drug included, had a median prison term of 65 months.
The records show the change in the median. They do not show why it happened, and 1 year of data is not a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,544 | 63 months | 97% |
| 2017 | 1,543 | 61 months | 97% |
| 2018 | 1,350 | 68 months | 96% |
| 2019 | 1,506 | 60 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 1,168 | 60 months | 97% |
| 2021 | 1,049 | 60 months | 98% |
| 2022 | 1,086 | 60 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 855 | 50.5 months | 99% |
| 2024 | 673 | 60 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 463 | 60 months | 98% |
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
All 855 sentences had information on their position against the guideline range. The most common position was below the range at the government's request: 384 people, or 45%.
Only 212 sentences (25%) were within the range. Another 240 (28%) were below the range without a government request. Just 19 (2%) were above it.
Prosecutors can ask for a sentence below the range, for example by a motion. Judges can also go below it on their own. The data records the category, not the reason.
Mandatory Minimums and the Spread of Terms
A mandatory minimum prison term, the floor a statute sets, applied to 356 people (42%). The rate for all drugs in fiscal year 2023 was 65%, higher than for crack cocaine.
Prison terms were given to 824 of the 855 people (96%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was given to 28 (3%).
Among prison terms, a quarter were 84 months or more and a quarter were 24 months or less.
Only 12 Trial Convictions
Nearly all cases ended in a guilty plea: 843 of 855 (99%). Just 12 people were convicted after a trial.
The median prison term was 49 months after a guilty plea and 92.5 months after a trial. With 12 people, the trial median rests on a very small group. Neither median accounts for differences in charges or drug amounts.
Written plea agreements covered 92% of the guilty pleas. Straight pleas, with no agreement, covered 8%.
Supervision, Money Penalties, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 822 people (96%). The median term was 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 36 people (4%), and restitution for 14 (2%).
On criminal history, 20% were in category I, the lowest, and 22% were in category VI, the highest.
What Cannot Be Known From These Records
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included. Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023, and the drug listed is the primary drug the Commission recorded.
Courts-martial do not record drug type in a countable way, and they have no criminal history field. There is therefore no military crack cocaine figure to set beside these numbers.
How We Counted
People sentenced in fiscal year 2023 whose primary guideline was §2D1.1 and whose primary drug type was crack (855), U.S. Sentencing Commission.
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.
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.
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)
- Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Crack Cocaine Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (previous or next year)
- Federal Crack Cocaine Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (previous or next year)
- Federal Methamphetamine Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other drug)
- Federal Powder Cocaine Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other drug)
- Federal Heroin Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other drug)
- Federal Fentanyl Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other drug)
- Federal Marijuana Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other drug)
- Federal Other Drug Trafficking Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other drug)
- Drug Distribution Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far
- Drug Distribution Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal
- §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- Army Article 112a Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Are Air Force Drug Courts-Martial Disappearing? Article 112a, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Drug Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 112a, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 112a UCMJ Drug Offenses and Positive Urinalysis (law firm reference page)
- 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.