§2A2.4 Obstructing or Impeding Officers: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Of 2,105 people sentenced under §2A2.4, Obstructing or Impeding Officers, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,814 (86%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months, and it was 12 months after both guilty pleas and trials.
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In brief: Of 2,105 people sentenced under §2A2.4, Obstructing or Impeding Officers, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,814 (86%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months, and it was 12 months after both guilty pleas and trials.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 2,105 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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.
Prison Was the Usual Sentence
Guideline §2A2.4 is titled "Obstructing or Impeding Officers" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 2,105 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary guideline was §2A2.4. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
A prison term went to 1,814 people (86%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 211 (10%).
The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. These are terms imposed, not time served.
Pleas Compared With Trials
A total of 1,940 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 165 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was also 12 months, based on 144 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among the guilty pleas, 78% had a written plea agreement and 21% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
The sentence position is known for 2,095 people. Within the range was 57% (1,189), the most common result.
Below the range at the government's request was 17% (350), and below the range without a government request was 22% (468). Above the range was 4% (88).
Mandatory Minimums and Supervised Release
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 6 people, which is less than 1%.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 1,558 people (74%). The median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 169 (8%), and restitution for 328 (16%).
Criminal History
In criminal history, 52% of the people were in category I, the lowest. Another 10% were in category VI, the highest.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that measure cannot be compared across systems.
Changes From Year to Year
The count was 790 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 1,315 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. The median prison term was 12 months in both periods.
The yearly median was 12 months in every year except 2024, when it was 10 months. The share who pleaded guilty was 98% in 2021 and 85% in 2024, the lowest in the table.
| 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 These Numbers
The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports federal numbers alone. The share of people sentenced who went to prison was 86%, but that share applies only to people convicted and sentenced. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. It cannot show how many cases ended in acquittal or dismissal, what happened in any single case, or why a sentence was chosen.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A2.4 (2,105), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2A1.1 First Degree Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2A2.1 Assault with Intent to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.