> ## 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 Environmental Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-environmental-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:33:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:33:39.000Z - Description: Most people sentenced for environmental offenses in the Eastern District of Virginia did not go to prison. Of 42 people sentenced in fiscal years 2017 to 2025, 9 (21%) received a prison term and 30 (71%) received probation only. All 42 pleaded guilty. - 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 Eastern District of Virginia, FY201](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-virginia/) › Environmental Offense: Eastern District of Virginia **In brief:** Most people sentenced for environmental offenses in the Eastern District of Virginia did not go to prison. Of 42 people sentenced in fiscal years 2017 to 2025, 9 (21%) received a prison term and 30 (71%) received probation only. All 42 pleaded guilty. 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 42 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/). ## Probation Was More Common Than Prison The Sentencing Commission counted 42 people sentenced for environmental offenses in this district. Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, applied to 30 of them (71%). Prison applied to 9 (21%). Among those 9, the median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less. With so few people in prison, these medians describe a very small group. ## Comparison With All 94 Districts Across all 94 districts, 1,638 people were sentenced for environmental offenses. Of those, 28% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 5 months. The guilty plea share was 98%, and 50% of sentences were within the guideline range. In this district, the prison share was lower than 28%, at 21%. For all offenses in the district, the median prison term was 46 months and 96% pleaded guilty. Environmental cases were less than 1% of the 10,381 people sentenced in the district. ## Pleas and Plea Agreements All 42 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 55% had a written plea agreement and 19% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 25 people with that information recorded. ## Sentences Within the Guideline Range For 38 people with the information, 74% (28) were sentenced within the guideline range. Another 16% (6) were below the range without a government request, and 11% (4) were below it at the government's request. None was above the range. The within-range share was higher here than the 50% for this offense type in all districts and the 60% for all offenses in this district. ## Fines and Restitution A fine was ordered for 29 people (69%), and restitution for 13 (31%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 8 people (19%), with a median term of 36 months. Among all 42 people, 89% were in the lowest criminal history category and 0% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Which Guidelines and Which Years "Environmental" is the Commission's offense category. The most common primary guideline was §2Q2.1 (Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants), with 14 people. Then came §2Q1.2 (Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides) with 3, and §2Q1.3 (Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants) and §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact) with 1 each. The district sentenced 12 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 30 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. The fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30\. Yearly counts range from 1 to 12, and some years show no median prison term because no one or too few people received prison. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2017 | 2 | 4 months | 2 of 2 | | 2018 | 3 | 21 months | 3 of 3 | | 2019 | 7 | 12 months | 7 of 7 | | 2020 | 3 | n/a | 3 of 3 | | 2021 | 8 | n/a | 8 of 8 | | 2022 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 | | 2023 | 2 | 6 months | 2 of 2 | | 2024 | 12 | 4 months | 100% | | 2025 | 4 | 0 months | 4 of 4 | ## Limits of the Data Only people who were convicted and sentenced appear. Acquittals and dismissals do not. The records do not show the conduct behind each case. Fort Lee, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and Norfolk are in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Virginia East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Environmental" (42). 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 Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (overview) - [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Other Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-other-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (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.