> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Federal Criminal Cases Dismissed, Year by Year, 2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-dismissal-rates-by-year/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:37:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T06:56:33.000Z - Description: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 58,307 of 753,808 federal defendants (8%) had their cases dismissed. The yearly rate was between 7% and 9%. Court-martial records do not show dismissed charges or cases withdrawn before trial, so there is no military dismissal rate to compare. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › Dismissal Rates **In brief:** In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 58,307 of 753,808 federal defendants (8%) had their cases dismissed. The yearly rate was between 7% and 9%. Court-martial records do not show dismissed charges or cases withdrawn before trial, so there is no military dismissal rate to compare. Updated November 2, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. The series also draws on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 659,036 people sentenced 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/). ## How Many Federal Cases Ended in Dismissal? The Federal Judicial Center counted 753,808 defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Of those, 58,307 had their cases dismissed (8%). The other outcomes were guilty pleas for 678,652 defendants (90%) and trials for 16,849 (2%). Overall, 692,967 (92%) were convicted, by plea or at trial. In this data, dismissed covers more than a dismissal by a judge. It includes dismissals, nolle prosequi, pretrial diversion, mistrials, and other non-convictions short of acquittal. ## The Rate in Each Fiscal Year The dismissal rate was 9% in fiscal year 2016 and 8% in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022\. It was 7% in 2020, 9% in 2023, and 7% in 2024 and 2025. The number of cases ending in a year changed more than the rate. It was 85,478 in 2019 and 63,725 in 2021\. It was 82,042 in 2025. The records show these figures but not why they moved. | Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial | | ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ | | 2016 | 77,318 | 89% | 9% | 1,853 | 291 (16%) | | 2017 | 75,163 | 90% | 8% | 1,874 | 276 (15%) | | 2018 | 79,704 | 90% | 8% | 1,879 | 320 (17%) | | 2019 | 85,478 | 90% | 8% | 1,950 | 287 (15%) | | 2020 | 71,485 | 91% | 7% | 1,425 | 199 (14%) | | 2021 | 63,725 | 90% | 8% | 1,081 | 196 (18%) | | 2022 | 71,954 | 89% | 8% | 1,669 | 290 (17%) | | 2023 | 72,255 | 89% | 9% | 1,840 | 263 (14%) | | 2024 | 74,684 | 91% | 7% | 1,723 | 220 (13%) | | 2025 | 82,042 | 92% | 7% | 1,555 | 192 (12%) | ## Guilty Pleas by Year The share of defendants who pleaded guilty stayed between 89% and 92%. It was 89% in 2016, 2022, and 2023, and 92% in 2025. A guilty plea is the usual way a federal case ends. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 678,652 defendants pleaded guilty, compared with 16,849 who went to trial. Dismissals, at 58,307, were more common than trials. Both rates can be read for a single year. In 2023, for example, 89% pleaded guilty and 9% had cases dismissed. In 2025, 92% pleaded guilty and 7% had cases dismissed. The yearly rates are close to each other, so a one-point change between years is small. The table gives the rates rounded to whole numbers, and the records do not allow a finer comparison. Trials were few. There were 1,853 in 2016 and 1,081 in 2021, the fewest in the table. In 2025 there were 1,555. Among trials, the share ending in an acquittal was 18% in 2021 and 12% in 2025\. These are acquittals at trial and are counted separately from dismissals. ## Felonies and Misdemeanors The dismissal rate differed by the seriousness of the charge. Felony cases numbered 679,515, and 6% were dismissed. Misdemeanor and petty cases numbered 74,293, and 26% were dismissed. Misdemeanor and petty cases are a small part of the federal total, but a dismissal was far more common in them. The overall dismissal rate for each fiscal year therefore depends on how many misdemeanor cases ended in that year. The records here do not break the yearly table down by felony and misdemeanor. The categories use the most serious charge at the end of the case. A case that began as a felony and ended as a misdemeanor is counted as a misdemeanor. Because the felony group is much larger, the overall rate of 8% is closer to the felony rate. ## Trials and Acquittals Of the 16,849 trials, 2,534 ended in an acquittal (15%). Jury trials numbered 14,615, with 1,838 acquittals (13%). Bench trials, which a judge decides, numbered 2,234, with 696 acquittals (31%). A dismissal is not an acquittal. An acquittal follows a trial and a verdict. A dismissal ends the case without one. ## Why There Is No Military Comparison Court-martial records do not show dismissed charges or cases withdrawn before trial. The records list results such as convictions and acquittals, not charges that were dropped. For that reason, no military dismissal rate is given in this post, and a federal rate cannot be set against one. The federal figures also cannot show the reason for any dismissal. A dismissal may follow a plea agreement on other charges, a diversion program, or a decision by the prosecutor, and the data counts all of them together. ### How We Counted Every defendant whose case ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 (753,808), Federal Judicial Center, counted as in Table D-4\. "Dismissed" includes dismissals, nolle prosequi, pretrial diversion, mistrials, and other non-convictions short of acquittal. 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 **Who is in each set of numbers.** The federal sentencing numbers come from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. They count only people who were convicted and sentenced in federal district court. People whose cases were dismissed or who were acquitted are not in them. The military numbers come from court-martial results, which include acquittals. To compare acquittal or dismissal rates, the federal side uses a different source: the Federal Judicial Center's case data, which counts every defendant whose case ended. **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. ### More Detail How cases ended under each federal statute: [Federal Statutes: How Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/#statutes). ## 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) - [Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-trial-acquittal-rates-vs-courts-martial/) - [Guilty Pleas in Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, Year by Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guilty-plea-rates-vs-courts-martial/) - [Child Pornography Sentences: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-child-pornography-sentences-vs-courts-martial/) - [Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-no-crime-of-drug-use-article-112a/) - [Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-distribution-importation-vs-article-112a/) - [Sexual Abuse of an Adult: Federal Cases vs. Article 120 Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sexual-abuse-adult-vs-article-120/) - [Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-child-sexual-abuse-enticement-vs-article-120b/) - [Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-theft-fraud-dollar-loss-vs-article-121/) - [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.