§2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 41 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A1.4 as the primary guideline. 11 of them (27%) received a sentence above the guideline range. 40 people (98%) were sentenced to prison, and the median prison term was 36 months (3 years).
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In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 41 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A1.4 as the primary guideline. 11 of them (27%) received a sentence above the guideline range. 40 people (98%) were sentenced to prison, and the median prison term was 36 months (3 years).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 41 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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.
Sentences Above the Range Were Common
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded the position of each sentence against the guideline range for all 41 people. 11 (27%) were above the range. 18 (44%) were within it. 6 (15%) were below it at the government's request, and 6 (15%) were below it without a request.
The within-range share for this guideline over fiscal years 2016 to 2025 was 45%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2016 it was 49%. Fiscal year 2017 had 42% within the range for this guideline.
Prison Terms
The Guidelines Manual titles §2A1.4 "Involuntary Manslaughter." 40 of the 41 people (98%) were sentenced to prison, and none received probation only.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 36 months (3 years). A quarter received 55.5 months or more, and a quarter received 21.5 months or less. Supervised release followed for 40 people (98%), with a median term of 36 months.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 41 people with that information recorded.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 41 | 36 months | 95% |
| 2017 | 43 | 37 months | 98% |
| 2018 | 38 | 37 months | 97% |
| 2019 | 47 | 37 months | 94% |
| 2020 | 26 | 38 months | 88% |
| 2021 | 28 | 18 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 39 | 41 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 42 | 37 months | 90% |
| 2024 | 60 | 32 months | 87% |
| 2025 | 48 | 46 months | 96% |
Pleas and Trials
39 of the 41 people (95%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 35.5 months after a guilty plea and 57 months after a trial. The trial figure comes from only 2 people.
Among the guilty pleas, 85% had a written plea agreement and 15% were straight pleas. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the Commission's data.
Criminal History, Fines, and Restitution
68% of the group were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 0% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
A fine was ordered for 2 people (5%), and restitution for 23 (56%). The records show whether an order was made, not the amount.
The Court-Martial Pairing and the Wider Numbers
The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 119 of the UCMJ. This post reports only the federal numbers, and the comparison posts cover the court-martial side.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 412 people were sentenced under §2A1.4. 93% went to prison, the median prison term was 37 months, and 94% pleaded guilty. All guidelines combined in fiscal year 2016 covered 67,742 people, with a median prison term of 24 months.
Limits
Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The Commission classifies the 41 cases as the offense type Manslaughter. The group is small, and one year does not show a trend. Fiscal year 2017 had 43 people and a median prison term of 37 months. The records do not describe individual cases.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.4 (41), 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.
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)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (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.