> ## 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 Food and Drug Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Georgia, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-food-and-drug-sentences-northern-district-of-georgia/
- Published: 2026-11-04T11:03:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T11:03:16.000Z
- Description: None of the 12 people sentenced for food and drug offenses in the Northern District of Georgia in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term: 0 of 12 (0%). 10 of the 12 (83%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. For this offense type across all 94 federal districts, 32
- 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 Northern District of Georgia, FY201](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-northern-district-of-georgia/) › Food and Drug Offense: Northern District of Georgia

**In brief:** None of the 12 people sentenced for food and drug offenses in the Northern District of Georgia in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term: 0 of 12 (0%). 10 of the 12 (83%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. For this offense type across all 94 federal districts, 32% were sent to prison.

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 12 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/).

## No Prison Terms in This Group

The U.S. Sentencing Commission places some federal cases in an offense type it calls "Food and Drug". In the Northern District of Georgia, 12 people were sentenced in this type, all in fiscal years 2019 to 2023.

Because 0 of the 12 received a prison term, the data has no median prison term for the group. The yearly table shows n/a in the median column for every year. The prison share was lower here (0%) than the 32% for all 94 districts, where 451 people were sentenced and the median prison term was 17.3 months.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2019        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2021        | 3                | n/a           | 3 of 3         |
| 2022        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2023        | 3                | n/a           | 3 of 3         |

## Everyone Pleaded Guilty

12 of 12 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement, and 0% were straight pleas with no agreement.

Across the district for all offenses, 96% pleaded guilty. For this offense type in all districts, the figure was 98%. Guilty pleas are the usual way these cases ended in each group.

## Position Against the Guideline Range

Federal judges calculate an advisory guideline range for each case. This information was recorded for 9 of the 12 people. Of those 9, 7 were sentenced within the range, 1 was below the range at the government's request, and 1 was above the range. None was below the range without a government request.

For this offense type across all 94 districts, 68% of sentences were within the range. For all offenses in the Northern District of Georgia, the figure was 32%. With only 9 sentences in the count, a few cases change these shares by a wide margin.

## Mandatory Minimums, Fines, and Criminal History

A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 12 people. A fine was ordered for 1 (8%), and restitution for 0 (0%).

Criminal history was recorded for 8 people. Of those 8, 5 were in the lowest criminal history category I and 0 were in the highest VI.

## Which Guideline Was Used?

The most common primary guideline was §2N2.1 (Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product), used in 6 cases.

These cases were less than 1% of the 5,362 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 2 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 10 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. The yearly counts are 2 or 3 people, so no year shows a trend.

## What the Records Cannot Show

The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. The records also do not describe what any person did, so they cannot show why probation, rather than prison, was ordered in these cases.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Georgia North") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Food and Drug" (12). 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 Northern District of Georgia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-northern-district-of-georgia/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Northern District of Georgia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-northern-district-of-georgia/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Northern District of Georgia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-northern-district-of-georgia/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Georgia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-northern-district-of-georgia/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Northern District of Georgia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-northern-district-of-georgia/) (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.