Federal Forgery, Counterfeiting, and Copyright Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025
All 19 people sentenced in the Southern District of Mississippi under the Commission's "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" type in fiscal years 2017 to 2025 had the same primary guideline, §2B5.1 (Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States). All 19 pleaded guilty, and 17 (89%) re
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In brief: All 19 people sentenced in the Southern District of Mississippi under the Commission's "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" type in fiscal years 2017 to 2025 had the same primary guideline, §2B5.1 (Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States). All 19 pleaded guilty, and 17 (89%) received a prison term with a median of 19 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 19 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 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.
Counterfeit Currency Cases Only
The offense type is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's category. Its name lists forgery, counterfeiting, and copyright, but in this district every person in the group had the same primary guideline: §2B5.1 (Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States).
The records therefore describe counterfeit-obligation sentences. They do not include cases in the type that used other guidelines, because none appears here.
The counts cover fiscal years 2017 to 2025. A fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends the following September.
Prison Terms
Of the 19 people, 17 (89%) received a prison term, and 1 (5%) received probation only. The median prison term was 19 months. A quarter received 17 months or less, and a quarter received 24 months or more.
Across all 94 districts, 77% of people in this type were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 17.6 months. The median for all offenses in the district was 48 months. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Pleas
All 19 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. The rate was 98% for this type across all 94 districts and 97% for all offenses in the district.
Among guilty pleas, 89% had a written plea agreement. The other 11% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The Guideline Range and Mandatory Minimums
The sentence was within the guideline range for 14 of the 19 people (74%). It was below the range without a government request for 3 people (16%). One person (5%) was below the range at the government's request, and one (5%) was above the range.
The within-range share was higher than the 47% for this type across all 94 districts and about the same as the 69% for all offenses in the district. No mandatory minimum applied to any of the 19 people (0%).
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release was ordered for 17 people (89%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 15 people (79%). Restitution was ordered for 8 people (42%).
In the lowest criminal history category, category I, were 26% of the people. In the highest, category VI, were 5%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Small Numbers Year by Year
These cases were less than 1% of the 3,361 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 12 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 7 people.
The table shows 7 years with cases, each with between 1 and 6 people. The medians range from 12 months in 2024 to 30.5 months in 2025, but groups of 1 to 3 people cannot show a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 4 | 21 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2018 | 2 | 17 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 6 | 15 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2020 | 2 | 30 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 1 | 12 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 30.5 months | 3 of 3 |
What the Records Leave Out
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and the data does not explain why a sentence fell where it did.
Keesler AFB, Mississippi, is in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal court, and none of these numbers describe them.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Mississippi (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Mississippi South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Forgery/Counter/Copyright" (19). 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- 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.