§2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
Federal courts sentenced 105 people in fiscal year 2017 with §2A2.3, "Assault," as the primary guideline. A prison term went to 68 (65%), and the median prison term was 6.7 months. Of the 105, 101 (96%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A2.3 Assault › §2A2.3: FY2017
In brief: Federal courts sentenced 105 people in fiscal year 2017 with §2A2.3, "Assault," as the primary guideline. A prison term went to 68 (65%), and the median prison term was 6.7 months. Of the 105, 101 (96%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 105 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
How Did These Cases End in 2017?
Among the 105 people, 101 (96%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, guilty pleas were 97%.
The median prison term was 7 months after a guilty plea and 4 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 3 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it is not a basis for a general comparison.
Of the guilty pleas, 85% had a written plea agreement, and 10% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 104 people with that information recorded.
Prison Terms
Prison was imposed on 68 of the 105 people (65%). Another 34 (32%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term among those sent to prison was 6.7 months. A quarter received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 3.1 months or less. The median for everyone sentenced in federal court in 2017 was 24 months.
The Commission counted 758 people under this guideline over all fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of those, 62% went to prison, and the median prison term was 6.2 months. The 2017 share sent to prison was higher than that, and the 2017 median was higher too.
Supervised Release and Restitution
After prison, 61 people (58%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 12 months.
Restitution was ordered for 31 (30%), and a fine for 6 (6%). The restitution share in 2017 is a larger share than the fine share, and the records do not say what the restitution covered.
Guideline Range Positions
Within the advisory range: 70% (73). Below the range at the government's request: 8% (8). Below the range without a government request: 13% (14). Above the range: 10% (10).
The share within the range was higher than the 49% for all federal cases in 2017. The year before had 71% within the range, and the year after had 65%.
Criminal History
In criminal history, 55% were in the lowest category, category I, and 3% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Nearby Years and Limits
The previous year, 2016, had 77 people and a median prison term of 5.8 months. The next year, 2018, had 82 people and a median of 7.1 months. The table shows each year.
The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.
The Commission lists the offense type for all 105 cases as Assault. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 77 | 5.8 months | 97% |
| 2017 | 105 | 6.7 months | 96% |
| 2018 | 82 | 7.1 months | 96% |
| 2019 | 111 | 7 months | 95% |
| 2020 | 79 | 7 months | 96% |
| 2021 | 76 | 6.6 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 68 | 6 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 62 | 6.3 months | 95% |
| 2024 | 51 | 6 months | 92% |
| 2025 | 47 | 6 months | 96% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.3 (105), 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)
- §2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.