§2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
42 people were sentenced under §2A1.4 in fiscal year 2023, and 4 of them were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 37 months (3.1 years), and 40 people (95%) were sent to prison. 21% were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter › §2A1.4: FY2023
In brief: 42 people were sentenced under §2A1.4 in fiscal year 2023, and 4 of them were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 37 months (3.1 years), and 40 people (95%) were sent to prison. 21% were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 42 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.
4 Trial Convictions and 38 Guilty Pleas
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 42 people in fiscal year 2023 with §2A1.4 as the primary guideline. The Guidelines Manual titles it "Involuntary Manslaughter." 38 (90%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial.
After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 37 months. After a trial, it was 59 months. The trial figure comes from 4 people, so it is not a reliable comparison of how trial and plea sentences differ. The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Among the guilty pleas, 82% had a written plea agreement and 18% were straight pleas.
Prison Terms
40 people (95%) were sentenced to prison, and 2 (5%) received probation only. The median prison term was 37 months (3.1 years). A quarter received 65.8 months or more, and a quarter received 23.2 months or less.
Supervised release followed for 40 people (95%), with a median term of 36 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 40 people with that information recorded (3%).
| 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% |
Government Requests and the Guideline Range
9 people (21%) were sentenced below the range at the government's request. 4 (10%) were below it without a request. 18 (43%) were within the range, and 11 (26%) were above it.
The within-range share was 41% in fiscal year 2022 and 45% in fiscal year 2024. For every guideline in fiscal year 2023 it was 42%.
Restitution and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 20 people (48%), and no fine was ordered for any of the 42. The records show whether an order was made, not the dollar amount.
62% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 7% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
All Years, All Guidelines, and Article 119
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 412 people were sentenced under this guideline. 93% went to prison, the median prison term was 37 months, and 94% pleaded guilty. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 30 months.
The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 119 of the UCMJ. This post reports only the federal side.
Limits
A written plea agreement is a signed agreement between the defendant and the government, and a straight plea has none. Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. The Commission files the 42 cases under the offense type Manslaughter and does not count acquittals or dismissals. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The records do not describe individual cases or the reasons for sentences. Fiscal year 2022 had 39 people under this guideline and fiscal year 2024 had 60.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.4 (42), 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)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.4 Involuntary Manslaughter: 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
- 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.