§2A1.2 Second Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Fiscal year 2023 had 110 people sentenced under §2A1.2, the largest yearly count from 2016 to 2025. All 110 were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 262 months (21.8 years), and 11 received a life sentence.
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In brief: Fiscal year 2023 had 110 people sentenced under §2A1.2, the largest yearly count from 2016 to 2025. All 110 were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 262 months (21.8 years), and 11 received a life sentence.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 110 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
The Largest Yearly Count in the Table
In fiscal year 2023, 110 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A1.2 as the primary guideline. The Guidelines Manual titles this guideline "Second Degree Murder." The yearly table below shows the other years, and none of them has a larger count than 110.
Every one of the 110 received a prison term. No one received probation only. The median prison term was 262 months (21.8 years), and 11 people received a life sentence.
A quarter of the group received 318.8 months or more. A quarter received 182 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not time served.
| 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% |
Prison Terms After a Plea Compared With a Trial
A total of 92 of the 110 people (84%) pleaded guilty, and 18 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 240 months after a guilty plea and 415 months after a trial.
Among the people who pleaded guilty, 98% had a written plea agreement, and 2% had a straight plea with no agreement.
The records report the medians but do not describe the facts of each case. They cannot show why trial terms were higher, and the trial group is small.
Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 21 of the 110 people with that information recorded (19%).
Of the 109 people with range information, 45% (49) were sentenced within the guideline range. Another 24% (26) were sentenced below the range at the government's request, and 14% (15) were sentenced below it without a government request. A sentence above the range was given to 17% (19).
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
After prison, 109 people (more than 99%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 60 months.
A fine was ordered for 5 people (5%). Restitution was ordered for 39 people (35%).
Criminal history was spread across the categories: 33% were in the lowest (Category I) and 13% in the highest (Category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
How Fiscal Year 2023 Compares With Other Counts
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 651 people were sentenced under §2A1.2. All were sent to prison. The median prison term was 234 months, 88% pleaded guilty, and 46% of sentences were within the range.
The median in fiscal year 2023 was higher than the median for all years, and the share of guilty pleas was lower. In fiscal year 2022, 80 people had a median of 218 months. In fiscal year 2024, 105 people had a median of 210 months, which was lower.
Among everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people, the median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 42% were within the range. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.
Limits of the Federal Numbers
The Sentencing Commission data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted.
One year with 110 people does not establish a trend, and the records cannot explain why the count was larger than in other years. The guideline is paired with Article 118 of the UCMJ in the comparison posts. This post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.2 (110), 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.2 Second Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.