§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 179 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline. Prison went to 150 (84%), and the median prison term was 12 months. After a guilty plea the median was 12 months, and after a trial it was 27 months.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 179 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline. Prison went to 150 (84%), and the median prison term was 12 months. After a guilty plea the median was 12 months, and after a trial it was 27 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 179 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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 After Pleas and After Trials
Of the 179 people, 170 (95%) pleaded guilty and 9 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. For the 9 people convicted at trial and sent to prison, it was 27 months.
The trial group is small, so its median describes those 9 cases only. The records do not show the facts behind any sentence.
Among the guilty pleas, 76% had a written plea agreement and 24% were straight pleas with no agreement.
How Many Went to Prison
A prison term was imposed on 150 of the 179 people (84%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was imposed on 21 (12%).
The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. The figures describe sentences imposed in court, and they do not measure time spent in custody.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 132 people (74%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 16 (9%), and restitution for 21 (12%).
Guideline Range and Mandatory Minimums
Range information was recorded for 178 people. A sentence within the range went to 55% (98). Below the range at the government's request were 21% (37), and below the range without a government request were 21% (37). Above the range were 3% (6).
The next year, 2017, had 53% within the range. Across 2016 to 2025, the figure for §2A2.4 was 57%, and for all federal cases in fiscal year 2016 it was 49%.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 176 people with that information recorded (1%).
Criminal History
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 47% of the people. Category VI, the highest, applied to 17%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so no military figure can be placed next to these.
What the Guideline Is and Where These Cases Sit
The Guidelines Manual calls §2A2.4 "Obstructing or Impeding Officers". The Commission's offense type for the 179 cases is Administration of Justice.
Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. All federal cases that year, under every guideline, totaled 67,742 people. Their median prison term was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
Over 2016 to 2025, §2A2.4 covered 2,105 people. Of them, 86% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 92% pleaded guilty. The table lists each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 179 | 12 months | 95% |
| 2017 | 166 | 12 months | 97% |
| 2018 | 239 | 12 months | 90% |
| 2019 | 206 | 12 months | 95% |
| 2020 | 185 | 12 months | 96% |
| 2021 | 177 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2022 | 247 | 12 months | 95% |
| 2023 | 246 | 12 months | 87% |
| 2024 | 248 | 10 months | 85% |
| 2025 | 212 | 12 months | 89% |
Limits of This Data
These totals leave out any charge that ended in acquittal or dismissal, because the Commission files hold only sentenced people.
Because the approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for §2A2.4, nothing in this post compares it with military cases.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (179), 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)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (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.