§2A3.2 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Sixteen Years (Statutory Rape) or Attempt to Commit Such Acts: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 33 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A3.2, and all 33 (100%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 31.5 months (2.6 years). Only 30% of sentences were within the guideline range, and 30% were above it.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.2 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Six › §2A3.2: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 33 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A3.2, and all 33 (100%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 31.5 months (2.6 years). Only 30% of sentences were within the guideline range, and 30% were above it.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 33 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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.
All 33 People Pleaded Guilty
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 33 people in fiscal year 2016 whose primary guideline was §2A3.2, titled "Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Sixteen Years (Statutory Rape) or Attempt to Commit Such Acts." The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Every one of the 33 pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range the court calculates for a case. In 10 cases (30%), the sentence was within the range, and in 10 cases (30%), it was above the range.
In 7 cases (21%), the sentence was below the range at the government's request. In 6 cases (18%), it was below the range without a government request.
For all of fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 57% of sentences under §2A3.2 were within the range. Fiscal year 2016 was lower than that, and the next year, 2017, was higher at 61%.
Prison Terms
Of the 33 people, 32 (97%) received a prison term, and 1 (3%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 31.5 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 72 months or more, and a quarter received 20.8 months or less.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 33 people. Prison terms in the data are the terms imposed, not time served.
Supervised Release for Life
After prison, 32 people (97%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 60 months.
Supervised release for life was ordered for 10 people (30%). A fine was ordered for 0 people, and restitution was ordered for 7 (21%).
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 67% of the group, and category VI, the highest, applied to 0%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Context From All Years and All Guidelines
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 365 people were sentenced under §2A3.2. Overall, 98% went to prison, the median prison term was 36 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2016, 67,742 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 24 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 49% were sentenced within the range.
The next fiscal year, 2017, had 28 people under §2A3.2 and a median prison term of 24 months. Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The table lists every fiscal year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 33 | 31.5 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 28 | 24 months | 96% |
| 2018 | 39 | 30 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 40 | 36.5 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 28 | 37 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 39 | 36 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 45 | 41 months | 96% |
| 2023 | 43 | 35 months | 95% |
| 2024 | 40 | 30 months | 93% |
| 2025 | 30 | 46 months | 93% |
Link to Article 120b and Limits
The Commission placed all 33 cases in its Sexual Abuse offense type. The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 120b of the UCMJ, and the comparison posts below cover the court-martial side.
A single year with 33 people is not a trend. The records do not give the facts of any case or the reasons a court chose a sentence.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.2 (33), 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)
- §2A3.2 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Sixteen Years (Statutory Rape) or Attempt to Commit Such Acts: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A3.2 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Sixteen Years (Statutory Rape) or Attempt to Commit Such Acts: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- Fewer or More? Child Sexual Abuse Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120b Conviction in the Army? (court-martial data)
- How Often Are Contested Army Article 120b Cases Acquitted? (court-martial data)
- Pleading Guilty to Article 120b in the Army: What Sentences Followed? (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 120b Changed in Air Force Courts-Martial Since 2016? (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120b Conviction in the Air Force? (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Air Force Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Fewer or More? Child Sexual Abuse Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Article 120b (Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 120b UCMJ: Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child (law firm reference page)
- 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.