§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
The median prison term under §2A3.5 in fiscal year 2017 was 20.5 months, which is higher than the 18 months in the other years of the sheet's table. 384 people were sentenced with this primary guideline, and 370 of them (96%) received a prison term. 379 (99%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted aft
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender › §2A3.5: FY2017
In brief: The median prison term under §2A3.5 in fiscal year 2017 was 20.5 months, which is higher than the 18 months in the other years of the sheet's table. 384 people were sentenced with this primary guideline, and 370 of them (96%) received a prison term. 379 (99%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 384 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
A Median Prison Term of 20.5 Months
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 384 people sentenced in fiscal year 2017 with §2A3.5 as the primary guideline. The manual titles the guideline "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender."
Among the 370 people who went to prison, the median term was 20.5 months. A quarter received 27.8 months or more, and a quarter received 13 months or less. In every other year in the table below, the median was 18 months.
The terms are those imposed at sentencing, not the time served. This is one year, and the records do not show why the median differs from the other years.
| 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, Probation, and Supervised Release
Of the 384 people, 370 (96%) received a prison term, and 6 (2%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison or other confinement.
After prison, 368 people (96%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 60 months, and 13 people (3%) received supervised release for life.
Guilty Pleas and the Few Trials
Guilty pleas accounted for 379 of the 384 people (99%). The remaining 5 were convicted after a trial.
The median prison term was 20 months after a guilty plea and 24 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 5 people. Among the guilty pleas, 65% had a written plea agreement, and 35% were straight pleas.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
60% of the people (231) were sentenced within the guideline range. 9% (34) were sentenced below the range at the government's request, and 24% (94) were sentenced below it without a government request. 7% (25) were above the range.
In fiscal year 2016, 58% were within the range, and in fiscal year 2018, 57% were. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, the share was 49%.
Mandatory Minimums, Fines, and Restitution
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 384 people (less than 1%).
A fine was ordered for 12 people (3%), and restitution for 3 (less than 1%).
Criminal History in This Group
5% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category (category I), and 17% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
All Years and All Guidelines
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, 3,269 people were sentenced under §2A3.5. 96% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 18 months, 99% pleaded guilty, and 55% were within the guideline range.
Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. In that year, 66,873 people were sentenced under all guidelines, with a median prison term of 24 months and a guilty plea share of 97%. The Commission's offense type for the §2A3.5 cases is Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses.
Limits of the Records
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. 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.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.5 (384), 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 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.