§2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
In fiscal year 2024, 7 of the 39 people sentenced under guideline §2A3.4 were convicted after a trial, and 32 (82%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 24 months after a guilty plea and 21 months after a trial. Restitution was ordered for 14 people (36%).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive S › §2A3.4: FY2024
In brief: In fiscal year 2024, 7 of the 39 people sentenced under guideline §2A3.4 were convicted after a trial, and 32 (82%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 24 months after a guilty plea and 21 months after a trial. Restitution was ordered for 14 people (36%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 39 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.
Trials and Guilty Pleas Under §2A3.4
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 39 people whose primary guideline was §2A3.4, "Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact." Of these, 32 (82%) pleaded guilty and 7 were 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 includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. It does not show how many people were charged, acquitted, or had their cases dismissed.
Prison Terms by Plea and Trial
Of the 39 people, 34 (87%) received a prison term, and 3 (8%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term for the whole group was 24 months (2 years). A quarter of those sent to prison received 54.8 months or more, and a quarter received 8 months or less.
After a guilty plea, the median was 24 months. After a trial, it was 21 months, based on 7 people sent to prison. These medians are close, and the counts are too small to show a pattern.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 39 people.
Restitution, Fines, and Supervised Release
Restitution was ordered for 14 people (36%), and a fine was ordered for 5 (13%).
Supervised release followed prison for 34 people (87%). The median term was 60 months, and 2 people (5%) received supervised release for life.
How Sentences Related to the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range the court calculates for a case. In 21 cases (54%), the sentence was within it.
In 6 cases (15%), the sentence was below the range at the government's request, and in 5 cases (13%), it was below the range without that request. In 7 cases (18%), it was above the range.
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined, 50% of §2A3.4 sentences were within the range.
Criminal History
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 82% of the group. Category VI, the highest, applied to 0%.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field. The approved crosswalk pairs this guideline with Article 120 of the UCMJ, but this measure cannot be compared between federal and military courts.
Neighboring Years and the Full Federal Caseload
Fiscal year 2024 ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. In fiscal year 2023, 46 people were sentenced under this guideline with a median prison term of 24 months, and 50% were within the range. In fiscal year 2025, 37 people were sentenced with a median of 36 months, and 41% were within the range.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 378 people were sentenced under §2A3.4. Of these, 93% went to prison, the median prison term was 24 months, and 91% pleaded guilty.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2024, 61,678 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 46% were within the range. All 39 §2A3.4 cases fall in the Sexual Abuse offense type. The table shows each fiscal year.
| 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% |
What One Year Cannot Show
A year with 39 people is one data point. The records do not explain why trials were more common or less common in a given year, and they do not describe the facts of any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.4 (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)
- §2A3.4 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 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A3.4 Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact: 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
- 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.