§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 185 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline, titled "Obstructing or Impeding Officers." Of those, 157 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. 178 of the 185 (96%) pleaded guilty.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 7 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers › §2A2.4: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 185 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline, titled "Obstructing or Impeding Officers." Of those, 157 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. 178 of the 185 (96%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 185 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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.
Who Went to Prison Under §2A2.4 in Fiscal Year 2020?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 185 people in fiscal year 2020 whose most serious count was sentenced under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers." The Commission files an offense-type label for each case, and all 185 fall under Administration of Justice.
Of the 185, 157 (85%) received a prison term. Another 21 (11%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among the people sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 5.7 months or less. These are the terms the judge imposed, not the time actually served.
Guilty Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements
A total of 178 of 185 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 7 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea.
After a trial, the median prison term was 9.2 months. That figure rests on only 6 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it is a small group and should not be read as a pattern.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 79% had a written plea agreement. The other 21% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The Commission has this information for 183 of the 185 people. A sentence within the guideline range was given to 105 (57%).
A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 27 (15%). A sentence below the range without a government request was given to 49 (27%). A sentence above the range was given to 2 (1%).
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 182 people with that information recorded, which is less than 1%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
A total of 131 people (71%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 11 people (6%). Restitution was ordered for 13 (7%).
On criminal history, 55% were in the lowest category (category I) and 11% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
How Fiscal Year 2020 Compares With Other Years
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,105 people were sentenced with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline. In that full period, 86% went to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, 92% pleaded guilty, and 57% were sentenced within the guideline range. Fiscal year 2020 had a higher share of guilty pleas than the figure for the full period.
The previous year, fiscal year 2019, had 206 people, a median prison term of 12 months, and 55% within the guideline range. The next year, fiscal year 2021, had 177 people, a median of 12 months, and 60% within the range. The table lists every year for this guideline.
The Commission's count for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020, under every guideline, was 64,565 people. Their median prison term was 18 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 50% were sentenced within the range. The median here, 12 months, was lower than that all-guideline figure.
| 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 These Numbers Cannot Show
The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, so the numbers say nothing about how many people were charged with obstructing or impeding officers and not convicted.
The fiscal year runs from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
The records also do not describe what any person did. People sentenced under the same guideline can have very different conduct behind the label.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (185), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.