§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 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 59% of the 39 people sentenced under guideline §2A3.2 received a sentence within the guideline range, compared with 43% of all people sentenced in federal court that year. Every one of the 39 was sent to prison, and the median prison term was 36 months (3 years). All 39 pleaded
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.2 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Six › §2A3.2: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 59% of the 39 people sentenced under guideline §2A3.2 received a sentence within the guideline range, compared with 43% of all people sentenced in federal court that year. Every one of the 39 was sent to prison, and the median prison term was 36 months (3 years). All 39 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 39 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.
Within-Range Sentences Compared With All Federal Cases
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2021, 57,287 people were sentenced, and 43% received a sentence within the guideline range. Under §2A3.2, the share was 59%, which is 23 of 39 people.
The other results were these: 4 people (10%) received a below-range sentence at the government's request, 6 people (15%) received a below-range sentence without that request, and 6 people (15%) received a sentence above the range.
The §2A3.2 share was 64% in fiscal year 2020 and 67% in fiscal year 2022, so the 2021 share was lower than both.
Prison Terms
All 39 people (100%) received a prison term. None received probation only.
The median prison term was 36 months, and the median for all federal cases that year was 29 months. A quarter of the §2A3.2 group received 50.5 months or more, and a quarter received 24 months or less.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 39 people. The prison terms are the terms imposed, not the time served.
Guilty Pleas
Every person in the group (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Federal cases overall had a guilty plea rate of 98% that year.
Among the guilty pleas under §2A3.2, 92% had a written plea agreement and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Restitution, Fines, and Supervised Release
Restitution was ordered for 9 people (23%), and a fine for 2 (5%).
Supervised release was ordered for all 39 people (100%). The median term was 60 months, and 7 people (18%) received supervised release for life.
Counting Rules and Criminal History
The people counted had §2A3.2 as their primary guideline, titled "Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under the Age of Sixteen Years (Statutory Rape) or Attempt to Commit Such Acts." Fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 67% of the group, and category VI, the highest, applied to 5%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The data includes only convicted and sentenced people, and the Commission placed all 39 cases in its Sexual Abuse offense type.
Surrounding Years
Fiscal year 2020 had 28 people under this guideline and a median of 37 months. Fiscal year 2022 had 45 people and a median of 41 months.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, 365 people were sentenced under §2A3.2. Of these, 98% went to prison, the median prison term was 36 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The table gives each 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% |
Article 120b and What Is Not Shown
The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 120b of the UCMJ. These records do not show what happened in any single case or why a court picked a sentence. Counts near 39 do not establish a trend.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.2 (39), 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 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §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 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
- 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.