§2A1.1 First Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Federal courts sentenced 2,592 people under the first degree murder guideline, §2A1.1, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 300 months (25 years), and 654 people received a life sentence. 74% pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Federal courts sentenced 2,592 people under the first degree murder guideline, §2A1.1, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 300 months (25 years), and 654 people received a life sentence. 74% pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 2,592 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.
Life Sentences and Long Terms
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2A1.1 "First Degree Murder." The Commission counted 2,592 people sentenced with this as the primary guideline over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of these, 2,588 (more than 99%) received a prison term, and 3 (less than 1%) received probation only.
The median prison term was 300 months (25 years). A quarter received 470 months or more, and a quarter received 180 months or less. 654 people received a life sentence.
How Often Did Cases Go to Trial?
Trials were a visible part of this group. 1,907 people (74%) pleaded guilty, and 685 were convicted after a trial. 90% of guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 9% were straight pleas.
The median prison term was 240 months after a guilty plea. After a trial it was 470 months, based on 685 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. The records do not show whether the kinds of cases were alike, and they do not show why the terms differ.
Mandatory Minimums
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1,328 people (51%). The sheet does not say which sentences were set by the minimum.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Range
Of 2,591 cases with the information, 47% (1,208) were below the range at the government's request. 39% (1,005) were within the range. 13% (340) were below it without a government request, and 1% (38) were above it.
Supervised Release, Money Orders, and Criminal History
Supervised release was ordered for 2,462 people (95%), with a median term of 60 months. 31 people (1%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 100 (4%), and restitution for 844 (33%).
In criminal history, 34% were in the lowest category and 16% were in the highest.
Year-to-Year Changes in the Median
The yearly median prison term varied. It was 264 months in 2016, 360 months in 2017, and 246 months in 2021. In 2023 it was 313.1 months, and in 2025 it was 360 months. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 963 people with a median of 312 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 1,629 people with a median of 300 months.
The yearly count of people sentenced ranged from 176 in 2021 to 344 in 2024. The records do not show why the figures moved.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 224 | 264 months | 76% |
| 2017 | 245 | 360 months | 65% |
| 2018 | 234 | 324 months | 74% |
| 2019 | 260 | 300 months | 74% |
| 2020 | 226 | 300 months | 71% |
| 2021 | 176 | 246 months | 84% |
| 2022 | 286 | 264 months | 83% |
| 2023 | 338 | 313.1 months | 71% |
| 2024 | 344 | 324 months | 72% |
| 2025 | 259 | 360 months | 69% |
The Military Crosswalk and Limits
The crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 118 of the UCMJ, and the comparison posts cover that pairing. This post reports only the federal numbers. The data covers convicted and sentenced people and reports terms imposed rather than time served. It does not show the facts of any case, and a life sentence in these records is a count of sentences, not a measure of time.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.1 (2,592), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
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.
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.
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)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- Is Army Murder Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 118, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Article 118 Sentences in the Air Force: Confinement and Discharges, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 118 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017? (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 118 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps? (court-martial data)
- Article 118 (Murder): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 118 UCMJ: Murder (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.