§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 247 people were sentenced under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers." 134 of them (54%) received a sentence within the guideline range. The median prison term was 12 months, and 235 (95%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 247 people were sentenced under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers." 134 of them (54%) received a sentence within the guideline range. The median prison term was 12 months, and 235 (95%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 247 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.
How Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
The Commission has range information for all 247 people sentenced in fiscal year 2022 with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline. A sentence within the range was given to 134 (54%).
A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 44 (18%). A sentence below the range without a government request was given to 58 (23%). A sentence above the range was given to 11 (4%).
The within-range share in fiscal year 2022 was lower than the 57% for all years from 2016 to 2025. It was also lower than the 60% in fiscal year 2021 and the 57% in fiscal year 2023.
Prison Terms
Of the 247 people, 205 (83%) received a prison term, and 34 (14%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 5.3 months or less.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 245 people with that information recorded.
Pleas and Trials
A total of 235 of 247 people (95%) pleaded guilty, and 12 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months.
After a trial, the median was 10 months, based on 11 people who were convicted and sent to prison. That is a small group.
Among the guilty pleas, 79% had a written plea agreement and 19% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Supervised Release, Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
After prison, 181 people (73%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 24 people (10%) and restitution for 27 (11%).
In the criminal history data, 55% were in the lowest category (category I) and 10% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records do not have a criminal history field.
Fiscal Year 2022 Beside Other Totals
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,105 people were sentenced under this guideline. Across those years, 86% went to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 92% pleaded guilty.
In fiscal year 2022, the number of people sentenced was 247. The previous year had 177 people and the next year had 246. The table lists each year for this guideline.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022, under any guideline, totaled 64,142 people. Their median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 42% were sentenced within the range. The §2A2.4 median was lower than that, and the within-range share 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% |
What the Data Does Not Cover
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Dismissals and acquittals are not in the files.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. No close court-martial counterpart exists for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so the post reports federal numbers on their own.
The records give a guideline label, not the facts of each case. They also cannot show why a judge chose a sentence above or below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (247), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: 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.