> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a1-5-conspiracy-or-solicitation-to-commit-murder/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:39:55.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:39:55.000Z - Description: All 339 people sentenced under §2A1.5 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 120 months (10 years), and 5 received a life sentence. A mandatory minimum applied to 60 people (18%). - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › §2A1.5 **In brief:** All 339 people sentenced under §2A1.5 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 120 months (10 years), and 5 received a life sentence. A mandatory minimum applied to 60 people (18%). Updated November 2, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 339 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Every Person Received Prison Of the 339 people, 339 (100%) were sentenced to prison, and none received probation only. The median prison term was 120 months. A quarter received 180 months or more, and a quarter received 74.5 months or less. 5 people received a life sentence. The term lengths are those the court imposed, not time served. ## What the Guideline Covers The Manual's title for §2A1.5 is "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder." The Sentencing Commission files the cases as Murder. A case counts here when §2A1.5 was the primary guideline, which is the guideline for the most serious count. The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. ## Guilty Pleas and Trials Guilty pleas were entered by 282 people (83%), and 57 were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 87% had a written plea agreement and 13% were straight pleas. The median prison term was 108 months after a guilty plea and 240 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 57 people, a group large enough to compare with the 282 who pleaded guilty. Even so, the records cannot show whether the cases differed in other ways. ## Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 60 people (18%). Sentences were below the guideline range at the government's request for 142 people (42%). Within the range were 103 (30%), below the range without a request were 89 (26%), and above the range were 5 (1%). The below-range group at the government's request is the largest of the groups. The records do not say what those requests were for or how large the reductions were. ## Supervised Release and Other Orders Supervised release after prison was ordered for 334 people (99%), with a median term of 36 months. 10 people (3%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 23 people (7%), and restitution for 34 (10%). Criminal history was mixed: 37% were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 19% were in the highest, VI. ## Changes From 2016 to 2025 The median prison term was 120 months in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, with 157 people, and 120 months in fiscal years 2020 to 2025, with 182 people. The yearly table shows more movement. The median was 144 months in 2021 and 78 months in 2023, and the number sentenced ranged from 22 in 2021 to 49 in 2017\. The guilty plea share was 74% in 2019 and 96% in 2023\. The records show these differences but not their reasons. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 38 | 120 months | 87% | | 2017 | 49 | 108 months | 80% | | 2018 | 24 | 120 months | 79% | | 2019 | 46 | 124.7 months | 74% | | 2020 | 34 | 120 months | 94% | | 2021 | 22 | 144 months | 86% | | 2022 | 27 | 120 months | 89% | | 2023 | 23 | 78 months | 96% | | 2024 | 43 | 120 months | 81% | | 2025 | 33 | 106 months | 76% | ## Limits The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so no court-martial figures are given. The federal data cannot show cases that ended in acquittal or dismissal. It also does not describe the plan, the people involved, or what happened after the sentence, so it cannot say how long anyone actually stayed in prison. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.5 (339), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a3-5-failure-to-register-as-a-sex-offender/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2A1.1 First Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a1-1-first-degree-murder/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a2-4-obstructing-or-impeding-officers/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a6-1-threatening-or-harassing-communications/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a2-1-assault-with-intent-to-commit-murder/) (same guideline chapter part) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.