§2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 68 people were sentenced in federal court under §2A2.3, "Assault," as the primary guideline. Prison went to 45 (66%), and the median prison term was 6 months. Within the guideline range were 78% of sentences.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 68 people were sentenced in federal court under §2A2.3, "Assault," as the primary guideline. Prison went to 45 (66%), and the median prison term was 6 months. Within the guideline range were 78% of sentences.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 68 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Prison Terms in Fiscal Year 2022
Of the 68 people, 45 (66%) received a prison term, and 23 (34%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Across all years 2016 to 2025, 62% of the 758 people under this guideline went to prison. The 2022 share was higher than that.
The median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 10 months or more, and a quarter received 0.2 months or less. The median for everyone sentenced in federal court in 2022 was 30 months.
After prison, 43 people (63%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 12 months.
Criminal History Categories
In criminal history, 57% were in the lowest category, category I, and 9% were in the highest, category VI. Category VI is the highest of the Commission's criminal history categories, and category I is the lowest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so no comparison with courts-martial is made.
Guideline Range Results
Within the advisory range: 78% (53). Below the range at the government's request: 10% (7). Below the range without a government request: 9% (6). Above the range: 3% (2).
The share within the range was higher than the 42% for all federal cases in 2022. It was also higher than the 70% in 2021 and the 69% in 2023 for this guideline.
| 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% |
Pleas, Trials, and Agreements
A total of 66 of 68 (97%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 6 months after a guilty plea and 6.5 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 2 people.
Among the guilty pleas, 80% had a written plea agreement, and 14% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 66 people with that information recorded.
Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 13 people (19%), and restitution for 8 (12%). The Commission counts these orders separately. The fine share was higher than the restitution share in 2022, and the records do not describe what any fine or restitution order covered.
Limits and Context
In 2021 there were 76 people with a median prison term of 6.6 months, and in 2023 there were 62 people with a median of 6.3 months. The Commission lists the offense type for all 68 cases as Assault.
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted, so acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The records cannot show why any share changed, and 68 people is a small group.
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.3 (68), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.3 Assault: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.