§2A1.3 Voluntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
Fiscal year 2024 had 50 people sentenced in federal court under §2A1.3, "Voluntary Manslaughter," the largest group in the yearly table. The median prison term was 109 months (9.1 years). The 7 people convicted at trial had a median of 180 months, and the 43 who pleaded guilty had a median of 97 mon
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A1.3 Voluntary Manslaughter › §2A1.3: FY2024
In brief: Fiscal year 2024 had 50 people sentenced in federal court under §2A1.3, "Voluntary Manslaughter," the largest group in the yearly table. The median prison term was 109 months (9.1 years). The 7 people convicted at trial had a median of 180 months, and the 43 who pleaded guilty had a median of 97 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 50 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
Trial and Plea Terms
Of the 50 people, 43 (86%) pleaded guilty and 7 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 97 months. After a trial it was 180 months. The trial group is small, and the records do not show why the figures differ.
Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 92% pleaded guilty. Among the guilty pleas in 2024, 98% had a written plea agreement and 2% were straight pleas.
The Largest Group in the Table
The Commission counted 50 people in fiscal year 2024. The year before had 43 and the year after had 45. Fiscal year 2024 ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. For everyone sentenced in federal court that year, under every guideline, the count was 61,678 people.
The yearly table above shows the count and median for every fiscal year from 2016 to 2025. It also shows the guilty plea rate for each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 27 | 108 months | 96% |
| 2017 | 30 | 113.5 months | 93% |
| 2018 | 23 | 83 months | 96% |
| 2019 | 27 | 96 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 12 | 100.5 months | 92% |
| 2021 | 28 | 91 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 40 | 107.5 months | 88% |
| 2023 | 43 | 97 months | 91% |
| 2024 | 50 | 109 months | 86% |
| 2025 | 45 | 111.5 months | 96% |
Median and Spread of Prison Terms
All 50 people (100%) received a prison term. The median was 109 months. A quarter of the group received 81 months or less, and a quarter received 169.5 months or more.
The median over all years of this guideline is 99 months. For every guideline in fiscal year 2024, it was 30 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 3 of the 50 people (6%).
The median is the middle value among prison terms imposed, not time served.
Sentences Against the Range
The Guidelines Manual calculates a range for each case. In 24 cases (48%), the sentence was within it. In 17 (34%), it was above it. In 6 (12%), it was below the range at the government's request, and in 3 (6%), it was below without a request.
The share within the range, 48%, is higher than the 46% for all years of this guideline and higher than the 46% for every guideline in fiscal year 2024. The previous year had 44% within the range, and the next year had 47%.
Supervised Release, Restitution, and Criminal History
Supervised release was ordered for 49 people (98%), with a median term of 36 months. Restitution was ordered for 15 (30%), and a fine for 1 (2%).
Category I, the lowest criminal history category, held 42% of the group. Category VI, the highest, held 8%. Court-martial files have no such field.
Limits of the Records
The Commission filed these cases under Manslaughter. The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 119 of the UCMJ, and the comparison posts cover that pairing. Acquittals and dismissals are absent from the data, and prison terms are imposed terms, not time served.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.3 (50), 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)
- §2A1.3 Voluntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A1.3 Voluntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.3 Voluntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- Guilty Pleas in Army Manslaughter Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Navy-Marine Corps Article 119 Cases by the Numbers, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Manslaughter Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Article 119 (Manslaughter): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 119 UCMJ: Voluntary and Involuntary Manslaughter (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.