§2A1.2 Second Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 80 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A1.2 as the primary guideline, and all 80 received a prison term. The median prison term was 218 months (18.2 years). The 12 people convicted after a trial had a median of 365 months, compared with 216 months for those who pleaded
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A1.2 Second Degree Murder › §2A1.2: FY2022
In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 80 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A1.2 as the primary guideline, and all 80 received a prison term. The median prison term was 218 months (18.2 years). The 12 people convicted after a trial had a median of 365 months, compared with 216 months for those who pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 80 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
How Long Were the Prison Terms in Fiscal Year 2022?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts everyone sentenced in a fiscal year, and 80 people had §2A1.2 as the primary guideline in fiscal year 2022. The guideline is titled "Second Degree Murder" in the Guidelines Manual. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
All 80 received a prison term, and none received probation only. The median prison term was 218 months (18.2 years). A quarter of the group received 315.8 months or more, and a quarter received 165.8 months or less. 2 people received a life sentence.
These are the terms imposed by the court, not the time actually served.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
A total of 68 of the 80 people (85%) pleaded guilty, and 12 were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 97% had a written plea agreement. The other 3% entered straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 216 months. After a trial it was 365 months. The trial figure rests on only 12 people, so it describes a small group and should be read with that in mind.
The records show these numbers side by side. They cannot show whether the cases in each group were alike in their facts.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
Of the 80 people with this information, 48% (38) were sentenced within the guideline range. Another 24% (19) received a sentence below the range at the government's request. A further 9% (7) were sentenced below the range without a government request, and 20% (16) were sentenced above it.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 9 of the 79 people with that information recorded (11%).
After prison, 77 people (96%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 60 months. A fine was ordered for 6 people (8%), and restitution for 20 (25%).
Criminal History in This Group
Federal records place each person in one of several criminal history categories. In this group, 41% were in the lowest category (Category I) and 11% were in the highest (Category VI).
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no counterpart on the military side.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 52 | 210 months | 88% |
| 2017 | 46 | 229.5 months | 87% |
| 2018 | 47 | 259 months | 83% |
| 2019 | 45 | 180 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 27 | 210 months | 93% |
| 2021 | 45 | 210 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 80 | 218 months | 85% |
| 2023 | 110 | 262 months | 84% |
| 2024 | 105 | 210 months | 90% |
| 2025 | 94 | 251 months | 87% |
Comparing Fiscal Year 2022 With Other Years and Other Cases
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 651 people were sentenced under §2A1.2. All were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 234 months. Guilty pleas were 88% of the group, and 46% of sentences were within the guideline range.
Fiscal year 2022 had 80 people, a median of 218 months, and 85% guilty pleas. The median was lower than the median for all years, and the share of guilty pleas was lower as well.
The adjacent years differ in size. Fiscal year 2021 had 45 people and a median of 210 months. Fiscal year 2023 had 110 people and a median of 262 months, which was higher. One year of data in a small group is not a trend.
Across every guideline in fiscal year 2022, 64,142 people were sentenced. Their median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 42% were sentenced within the range. The fiscal year runs from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
What These Numbers Do Not Show
The Sentencing Commission data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, so the numbers say nothing about how often a murder charge ended without a conviction.
This post reports federal numbers on their own. The guideline is part of the approved pairing with Article 118 of the UCMJ, and the comparison posts compare the systems. Court-martial years are counted by trial date, and federal years are fiscal years.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.2 (80), U.S. Sentencing Commission 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)
- §2A1.2 Second Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A1.2 Second Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.2 Second Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- 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.