§2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, the median prison term for the 51 people sent to prison under §2A2.3, "Assault," was 7.1 months, the highest median in the 2016 to 2025 table. A total of 82 people were sentenced, and 51 (62%) received prison. Sentences within the guideline range were 65%.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2018, the median prison term for the 51 people sent to prison under §2A2.3, "Assault," was 7.1 months, the highest median in the 2016 to 2025 table. A total of 82 people were sentenced, and 51 (62%) received prison. Sentences within the guideline range were 65%.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 82 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 Prison Term of 7.1 Months
The median prison term in fiscal year 2018 was 7.1 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 1.8 months or less.
The median was higher than the 6.2 months for all years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline. It was lower than the 24 months for everyone sentenced in federal court in 2018. The year before, 2017, had a median of 6.7 months, and the year after, 2019, had a median of 7 months.
| 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% |
Who Received Prison
Of the 82 people, 51 (62%) received a prison term, and 27 (33%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The all-years share sent to prison was 62%, so 2018 was about the same.
After prison, 43 people (52%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 24 months. A fine was ordered for 6 (7%), and restitution for 16 (20%).
Sentences Above the Range
For the 81 people with the information, 65% (53) were within the advisory range. Another 7% (6) were below the range at the government's request, and 15% (12) were below it without a government request. A further 12% (10) were above the range.
The share within the range was higher than the 51% for all federal cases in 2018. It was lower than the 70% in 2017 and the 71% in 2019 for this guideline. The share above the range was 12% in 2018, which is a larger share than the 10% in 2017.
Trials Were Rare
A total of 79 of 82 (96%) pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. For all guidelines in 2018, guilty pleas were 97%.
The median prison term was 6.8 months after a guilty plea and 12 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 3 people. A group that small cannot show how trials and pleas differ, and the records do not say what separated those cases.
Among the guilty pleas, 78% had a written plea agreement, and 14% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 79 people with that information recorded.
Criminal History
In criminal history, 56% were in the lowest category, category I, and 1% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Limits of the Data
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in these numbers. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
The Commission lists the offense type for all 82 cases as Assault. A single year of 82 people does not make a trend. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.3 (82), 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 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.3 Assault: 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.