§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
Fiscal year 2018 had 239 people sentenced under §2A2.4, and 25 of them (10%) were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea and 18 months after a trial. The plea rate of 90% was lower than in 2017.
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In brief: Fiscal year 2018 had 239 people sentenced under §2A2.4, and 25 of them (10%) were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea and 18 months after a trial. The plea rate of 90% was lower than in 2017.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 239 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.
Trial Convictions in Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 214 of 239 people (90%) pleaded guilty, and 25 were convicted after a trial. The previous table row, for 2017, shows 97% guilty pleas, and the next row, for 2019, shows 95%.
The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea. After a trial it was 18 months, based on 19 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Of the guilty pleas, 81% had a written plea agreement and 18% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Prison and Probation Numbers
Prison was imposed on 212 of the 239 people (89%), and probation only on 20 (8%). The median prison term was 12 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 18.5 months or more. A quarter received 7 months or less. Supervised release followed prison for 177 people (74%), with a median term of 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 11 people (5%), and restitution for 37 (15%).
Position Against the Guideline Range
For 238 people the range information was recorded. Within the range were 54% (129). Below the range at the government's request were 16% (38), and below the range without a government request were 24% (58). Above the range were 5% (13).
The previous year had 53% within the range, and the next year had 55%. The figure for §2A2.4 across 2016 to 2025 was 57%, and the figure for all federal cases in fiscal year 2018 was 51%.
Mandatory Minimums
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 236 people with that information recorded (0%). A mandatory minimum is a prison term fixed by statute as a floor.
Criminal History, Title, and National Totals
Criminal history category I, the lowest, covered 43% of the people, and category VI, the highest, covered 8%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Guidelines Manual title is "Obstructing or Impeding Officers", and the Commission's offense type for the 239 cases is Administration of Justice.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. All federal cases that year totaled 69,425 people, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas.
Across 2016 to 2025, §2A2.4 covered 2,105 people, with 86% sent to prison and 92% pleading guilty. The table shows 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% |
What Is Not Shown
The Commission files include only people who were convicted and sentenced. They do not include acquittals or dismissals, and they do not describe any individual's conduct.
The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal figures are given. The records cannot show why the plea rate was 90% this year.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (239), 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)
- §2A2.4 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)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: 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.