§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
The median prison term under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers," was 10 months in fiscal year 2024, lower than the 12 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together. 248 people were sentenced, and 205 (83%) received a prison term. 211 (85%) pleaded guilty and 37 were convicted after a trial.
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In brief: The median prison term under §2A2.4, "Obstructing or Impeding Officers," was 10 months in fiscal year 2024, lower than the 12 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together. 248 people were sentenced, and 205 (83%) received a prison term. 211 (85%) pleaded guilty and 37 were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 248 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
A Median Prison Term of 10 Months
In fiscal year 2024, 205 of the 248 people sentenced with §2A2.4 as the primary guideline (83%) received a prison term. Another 27 (11%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term for those sent to prison was 10 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less.
The 10-month median was lower than the 12 months in every other year in the table. The previous year, 2023, and the next year, 2025, both had a median of 12 months.
| 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% |
Restitution and Fines Were More Common This Year
Restitution was ordered for 84 people (34%), and a fine for 31 (13%). The Commission data does not say what the restitution orders covered.
A total of 183 people (74%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 36 months.
Guilty Pleas and Trial Convictions
A total of 211 of 248 people (85%) pleaded guilty, and 37 were convicted after a trial. The share who pleaded guilty was lower than the 92% for all years from 2016 to 2025.
The median prison term was 10 months after a guilty plea and 9 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 29 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among the guilty pleas, 82% had a written plea agreement and 18% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Within and Outside the Guideline Range
The Commission has range information for 245 people. A sentence within the guideline range was given to 149 (61%).
A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 30 (12%). A sentence below the range without a government request was given to 56 (23%). A sentence above the range was given to 10 (4%).
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 244 people with that information recorded, which is less than 1%.
For criminal history, 60% were in the lowest category (category I) and 9% were in the highest (category VI).
Fiscal Year 2024 and the Federal System as a Whole
Fiscal year 2024 ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. In fiscal year 2023, 246 people were sentenced under §2A2.4, with 57% within the range. In fiscal year 2025, the count was 212 people, with 60% within the range.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,105 people were sentenced under this guideline, 86% went to prison, and 57% were within the range.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2024, the Commission counted 61,678 people. Their median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 46% were within the range.
Limits and Context
The files count only people who were convicted and sentenced. Dismissals and acquittals are not included.
No close court-martial counterpart exists for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so the numbers stand on their own.
A median that differs from the full-period figure in one year is a single data point. These records cannot show the reason for it.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (248), 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 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (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.