§2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
Fiscal year 2020 had the smallest count in the table for §2A1.4: 26 people. 22 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 38 months (3.2 years). 4 people (15%) received probation only.
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In brief: Fiscal year 2020 had the smallest count in the table for §2A1.4: 26 people. 22 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 38 months (3.2 years). 4 people (15%) received probation only.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 26 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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 Smallest Yearly Count
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 26 people in fiscal year 2020 whose primary guideline was §2A1.4, titled "Involuntary Manslaughter" in the Guidelines Manual. This is the lowest yearly count in the table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Percentages from a group this small move a lot when 1 person is added or removed.
22 of the 26 people (85%) were sentenced to prison, and 4 (15%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
| 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% |
Prison Terms and Supervised Release
The median prison term among those sent to prison was 38 months (3.2 years). A quarter received 58 months or more, and a quarter received 30 months or less. The median for this guideline across fiscal years 2016 to 2025 was 37 months.
Supervised release followed for 22 people (85%), with a median term of 36 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 25 people with that information recorded.
Trial and Plea Sentences
23 of the 26 people (88%) pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 39 months after a guilty plea and 24 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 3 people.
91% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 9% were straight pleas. The Commission does not count acquittals or dismissals.
Guideline Range Positions
14 people (54%) were within the range. 5 (19%) were above it, 4 (15%) were below it at the government's request, and 3 (12%) were below it without a request.
For this guideline across all years the within-range share was 45%. For every guideline in fiscal year 2020 it was 50%. Fiscal year 2019 had 51% and fiscal year 2021 had 43%.
Restitution and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 13 people (50%), and no fine was ordered for any of the 26. 65% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 0% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Wider Numbers and the Court-Martial Pairing
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 412 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 93% went to prison. All guidelines combined in fiscal year 2020 covered 64,565 people, with a median prison term of 18 months. Fiscal year 2019 had 47 people under §2A1.4, and fiscal year 2021 had 28.
The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 119 of the UCMJ. This post reports the federal side only.
Limits
Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The Commission classifies the 26 cases as the offense type Manslaughter. The records do not describe individual cases or the reasons for sentences.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.4 (26), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.