§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 427 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A3.5 as the primary guideline, the highest yearly count in the sheet's table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 417 of them (98%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 18 months. 422 (99%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender › §2A3.5: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 427 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A3.5 as the primary guideline, the highest yearly count in the sheet's table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 417 of them (98%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 18 months. 422 (99%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 427 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.
How Many People Were Sentenced Under §2A3.5 in Fiscal Year 2016?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 427 people sentenced in fiscal year 2016 whose primary guideline was §2A3.5. The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles that guideline "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender."
The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count in a case. The Commission places these 427 cases in its Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses offense type.
Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 427 | 18 months | 99% |
| 2017 | 384 | 20.5 months | 99% |
| 2018 | 360 | 18 months | more than 99% |
| 2019 | 360 | 18 months | more than 99% |
| 2020 | 291 | 18 months | 99% |
| 2021 | 257 | 18 months | more than 99% |
| 2022 | 307 | 18 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 282 | 18 months | 98% |
| 2024 | 310 | 18 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 291 | 18 months | more than 99% |
Prison Terms and Probation
Of the 427 people, 417 (98%) received a prison term. Another 7 (2%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 27 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not the time actually served.
Almost Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea
A total of 422 of the 427 people (99%) pleaded guilty. Only 5 were convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 18 months. After a trial it was 36 months, based on 5 people. With so few trial convictions, that median describes a very small group and should not be taken as a pattern.
Of the guilty pleas, 63% came with a written plea agreement, and 37% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
For all 427 people, 58% (247) were sentenced within the guideline range. A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 9% (40). A sentence below the range without a government request was given to 28% (118), and a sentence above the range to 5% (22).
Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2016, 49% of sentences were within the range.
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 427 people (less than 1%).
After prison, 414 people (97%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 60 months, and 21 people (5%) received supervised release for life. A fine was ordered for 15 people (4%), and restitution for 1 person (less than 1%).
Criminal History
The Commission sorts people into criminal history categories. In fiscal year 2016, 4% were in the lowest category (category I), and 19% were in the highest (category VI).
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no military counterpart.
Comparison With Other Years and All Guidelines
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 3,269 people were sentenced under §2A3.5. Of those, 96% went to prison, the median prison term was 18 months, 99% pleaded guilty, and 55% were within the guideline range. The next year, fiscal year 2017, had 384 people, a median of 20.5 months, and 60% within the range.
In fiscal year 2016, all guidelines together covered 67,742 people. Their median prison term was 24 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 49% were within the range. The §2A3.5 median prison term was lower than that.
What This Post Does Not Cover
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the crosswalk used on this site, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records do not show the facts of any case or why a term was longer or shorter.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.5 (427), 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.
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 (overview)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: 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
- 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.