§2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
The 112 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 under §2A2.1, "Assault with Intent to Commit Murder," had a median prison term of 136 months (11.3 years). That is higher than the 120 months recorded for both 2017 and 2019. All 112 received prison.
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In brief: The 112 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 under §2A2.1, "Assault with Intent to Commit Murder," had a median prison term of 136 months (11.3 years). That is higher than the 120 months recorded for both 2017 and 2019. All 112 received prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 112 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.
A Median of 136 Months
In fiscal year 2018, the median prison term under §2A2.1 was 136 months, or 11.3 years. A quarter of the people received 216 months or more. A quarter received 89 months or less.
In the years before and after, the median was 120 months. Those figures are for 2017 and 2019, and the table lists all years. The records do not explain why 2018 differs, and with 112 people one year is not a trend.
2 people received life sentences. All terms are imposed terms and not time served.
Everyone Went to Prison
112 of 112 people (100%) received a prison term, and 0 (0%) received probation only. A mandatory minimum applied to 44 of the 112 (39%).
Pleas and Trials
101 people (90%) pleaded guilty, and 11 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 120 months. After a trial it was 300 months.
Among the guilty pleas, 75% had a written plea agreement and 25% did not. The trial group has 11 people, so its median rests on a small number.
Within the Range or Below It
Range information was recorded for 111 people. 37% (41) were sentenced within the range. 36% (40) were below it at the government's request, and 25% (28) were below it without a request. 2% (2) were above it.
The within-range share across all guidelines in 2018 was 51%. For §2A2.1 across fiscal years 2016 to 2025 it was 41%.
Supervised Release and Other Orders
109 people (97%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months, and 1 person (less than 1%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 5 (4%), and restitution for 15 (13%).
24% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 14% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
What the Count Includes
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts each person under the primary guideline, the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Fiscal year 2018 ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. All 112 cases were in the Assault category. Only convicted and sentenced people appear.
In 2017, 130 people were sentenced under this guideline. In 2019, 169 were. Over all of fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,534 people were sentenced, and 88% pleaded guilty. For all guidelines in 2018, 69,425 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 80 | 120.5 months | 86% |
| 2017 | 130 | 120 months | 91% |
| 2018 | 112 | 136 months | 90% |
| 2019 | 169 | 120 months | 89% |
| 2020 | 126 | 120 months | 85% |
| 2021 | 115 | 120 months | 92% |
| 2022 | 182 | 120 months | 87% |
| 2023 | 201 | 120 months | 87% |
| 2024 | 226 | 125 months | 90% |
| 2025 | 193 | 137 months | 83% |
Limits of the Records
The data cannot show what happened in any case or why a term was chosen. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.1 (112), 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)
- §2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: 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
- 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.