§2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Of the 46 people sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A3.4 in fiscal year 2023, 42 (91%) received a prison term with a median of 24 months (2 years). The median supervised release term was 72 months. A total of 50% of the sentences were within the guideline range.
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In brief: Of the 46 people sentenced in federal court under guideline §2A3.4 in fiscal year 2023, 42 (91%) received a prison term with a median of 24 months (2 years). The median supervised release term was 72 months. A total of 50% of the sentences were within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 46 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
What Supervised Release Terms Were Ordered in Fiscal Year 2023?
After prison, 42 of the 46 people (91%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 72 months, and 5 people (11%) received supervised release for life.
The sheet for this year does not give supervised release terms for other years, so this post does not compare the 72 months with them.
Supervised release is a period of supervision after a person leaves prison. The data records the length ordered at sentencing.
Prison Terms for the 46 People
The Commission counted 46 people whose primary guideline was §2A3.4, "Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact." Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.
Of the 46, 42 (91%) were sentenced to prison and 1 (2%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 24 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 46.5 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.
Pleas, Trials, and Mandatory Minimums
A total of 42 of 46 people (91%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 98% had a written plea agreement and 2% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 24 months. After a trial, it was 51 months, but that is based on 3 people sent to prison, so it is not a dependable figure.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 45 people with that information recorded.
Against the Guideline Range
In 23 cases (50%), the sentence was within the guideline range. In 11 cases (24%), it was below the range at the government's request, and in 7 cases (15%), it was below the range without that request. In 5 cases (11%), it was above the range.
In fiscal year 2022, 60% of sentences under this guideline were within the range, and in fiscal year 2024, 54% were. Fiscal year 2023 was lower than both.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 6 people (13%), and restitution for 5 (11%).
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 65% of the group. Category VI, the highest, applied to 0%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Wider Context
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 378 people were sentenced under §2A3.4. Overall, 93% went to prison, the median prison term was 24 months, and 91% pleaded guilty.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 42% were sentenced within the range.
In fiscal year 2022, 48 people were sentenced under this guideline with a median of 21 months. In fiscal year 2024, 39 were, with a median of 24 months. The table lists all fiscal years.
The Commission's offense type for these cases was Sexual Abuse. The approved crosswalk pairs the guideline with Article 120 of the UCMJ.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 34 | 30 months | 91% |
| 2017 | 38 | 27 months | 97% |
| 2018 | 41 | 24 months | 98% |
| 2019 | 44 | 18 months | 93% |
| 2020 | 25 | 40.5 months | 88% |
| 2021 | 26 | 36 months | 81% |
| 2022 | 48 | 21 months | 92% |
| 2023 | 46 | 24 months | 91% |
| 2024 | 39 | 24 months | 82% |
| 2025 | 37 | 36 months | 89% |
Limits
Acquittals and dismissals are not in this data, and neither are the facts of individual cases. The records here also cannot show why any number differs from another year.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.4 (46), 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)
- §2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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? Sexual Assault Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Article 120 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Fighting an Army Sexual Assault Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Sexual Assault (court-martial data)
- Is Air Force Sexual Assault Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 120, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120 Conviction in the Air Force? (court-martial data)
- When Air Force Accused Plead Guilty to Sexual Assault (court-martial data)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Sexual Assault Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 120, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- Article 120 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- Not Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Article 120 Cases: What Happened at Trial (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Sexual Assault Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Article 120 (Rape and Sexual Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 120 UCMJ Explained by a Former Special Victim Prosecutor (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.