§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
Nearly every person sentenced under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers," in fiscal year 2021 had pleaded guilty: 173 of 177 (98%). The median prison term was 12 months, and 154 people (87%) received a prison term. Only 4 people were convicted after a trial.
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In brief: Nearly every person sentenced under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers," in fiscal year 2021 had pleaded guilty: 173 of 177 (98%). The median prison term was 12 months, and 154 people (87%) received a prison term. Only 4 people were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 177 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
Guilty Pleas Were Almost Universal in Fiscal Year 2021
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 177 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
A total of 173 of the 177 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months.
The median after a trial was 20 months. That number is based on 4 people, so it is too small to compare with the plea figure.
Among the guilty pleas, 83% had a written plea agreement. The other 17% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Prison Terms and Probation
Of the 177 people, 154 (87%) received a prison term. Another 16 (9%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
For those sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 7.3 months or less.
These are imposed terms, not time served. The data does not show how long anyone actually spent in custody.
Position Against the Guideline Range
The Commission has range information for all 177 people. A sentence within the guideline range was given to 107 (60%).
A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 31 (18%), and one below the range without that request was given to 36 (20%). A sentence above the range was given to 3 (2%).
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 175 people with that information recorded.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
A total of 144 people (81%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 8 (5%), and restitution for 14 (8%).
In criminal history, 46% were in the lowest category (category I) and 11% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that measure cannot be set beside military cases.
Context From Other Years and Other Guidelines
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, 2,105 people were sentenced under §2A2.4. In that period, 86% went to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, 92% pleaded guilty, and 57% were sentenced within the range. The share who pleaded guilty in fiscal year 2021 was higher than in the full period.
In fiscal year 2020, there were 185 people, the median was 12 months, and 57% were within the range. In fiscal year 2022, there were 247 people, the median was 12 months, and 54% were within the range. The table shows every year.
Across every guideline in fiscal year 2021, 57,287 people were sentenced. Their median prison term was 29 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 43% were sentenced within the range. The median under §2A2.4 was lower than that figure, and the share within the range was higher.
| 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 the Records
The Commission's files include only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals do not appear, so these numbers cannot show how often a charge of this kind ended without a conviction.
Fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported here.
A count of 177 people over one year is small. It should not be treated as a trend.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (177), 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 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.