§2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
Of the 38 people sentenced under §2A1.4 in fiscal year 2018, 23 (61%) received a sentence within the guideline range. This is higher than the 45% for the guideline across fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and the 51% for all guidelines in fiscal year 2018. The median prison term was 37 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter › §2A1.4: FY2018
In brief: Of the 38 people sentenced under §2A1.4 in fiscal year 2018, 23 (61%) received a sentence within the guideline range. This is higher than the 45% for the guideline across fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and the 51% for all guidelines in fiscal year 2018. The median prison term was 37 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 38 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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.
Within-Range Sentences Were More Common Than Usual
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 38 people in fiscal year 2018 whose primary guideline was §2A1.4, which the Guidelines Manual titles "Involuntary Manslaughter." 23 (61%) were within the guideline range. 7 (18%) were above it. 5 (13%) were below it without a government request, and 3 (8%) were below it at the government's request.
Fiscal year 2017 had 42% within the range, and fiscal year 2019 had 51%. With 38 people, differences from one year to the next are not reliable trends.
How Long the Prison Terms Were
36 people (95%) were sentenced to prison. Only 1 (3%) received probation alone.
The median prison term was 37 months (3.1 years). A quarter of those sent to prison received 41.2 months or more, and a quarter received 30 months or less. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 37 people with that information recorded.
After prison, 36 people (95%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median supervised release term was 36 months.
| 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% |
Almost Everyone Pleaded Guilty
37 of the 38 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 37 months. The person convicted at trial received 51 months. One sentence cannot show how plea and trial sentences differ.
86% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 14% were straight pleas. The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced.
Criminal History and Orders to Pay
76% of the group were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 0% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Restitution was ordered for 23 people (61%). No fine was ordered for any of the 38. The records show whether an order existed, not the dollar amount.
Federal Totals for Comparison
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 412 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of those, 93% went to prison, the median prison term was 37 months, and 94% pleaded guilty.
In fiscal year 2018, all guidelines combined covered 69,425 people. The median prison term was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The Commission files these 38 cases under the offense type Manslaughter.
Article 119 and the Limits of This Post
The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 119 of the UCMJ, and the comparison posts cover that pairing. Fiscal year 2018 ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The records do not describe individual cases or the reasons for sentences. A count of 38 people is small, and one fiscal year does not set a pattern.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.4 (38), 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)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (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.