§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 222 of the 360 people sentenced under §2A3.5 as the primary guideline were sentenced within the guideline range (62%). 348 (97%) received a prison term with a median of 18 months, and 9 (3%) received probation only. 3 people were convicted after a trial.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender › §2A3.5: FY2019
In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 222 of the 360 people sentenced under §2A3.5 as the primary guideline were sentenced within the guideline range (62%). 348 (97%) received a prison term with a median of 18 months, and 9 (3%) received probation only. 3 people were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 360 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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 the Range for 62%
Range information was available for all 360 people sentenced in fiscal year 2019 under §2A3.5. In 222 cases (62%), the sentence was within the guideline range.
In 98 cases (27%), the sentence was below the range and the government had not asked for that. In 29 cases (8%), it was below the range at the government's request. In 11 cases (3%), it was above the range.
The year before, 57% were within the range. The year after, 52% were. Among all federal cases in fiscal year 2019, 51% were.
Prison and Probation Counts
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual names §2A3.5 "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender." In this year, 348 of the 360 people (97%) were sent to prison, and 9 (3%) were placed on probation only.
The Commission reports quartiles as well as the median. The median was 18 months, the upper quartile began at 24 months, and the lower quartile ended at 12 months. These are imposed terms, not time served.
Trials Were Rare
Guilty pleas made up 357 of the 360 cases (more than 99%), and 3 cases ended in a trial conviction. After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 18 months.
The trial median, 38.5 months, rests on 2 people, since the data counts only those convicted at trial and sent to prison. A group that small does not support a pattern.
Plea agreements in writing covered 68% of the guilty pleas, and 32% were straight pleas.
Release Terms and Financial Orders
After prison, 342 people (95%) were placed on supervised release for a median of 60 months, and 9 people (3%) were placed on it for life.
7 people (2%) were fined. No one (0%) was ordered to pay restitution, and no one (0%) had a mandatory minimum recorded.
Criminal History in the Group
6% of the people were in criminal history category I, and 17% were in category VI. Military courts do not record criminal history in this way, so there is no court-martial comparison.
Reading Fiscal Year 2019 Against the Series
Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. The count was 360, the same as in fiscal year 2018, and 291 in fiscal year 2020. The table gives all years.
From fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025, 3,269 people were sentenced under this guideline, 96% went to prison, and 55% were within the range. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 21 months, and 98% pleaded guilty.
| 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% |
Limits and Scope
The Commission files this post draws on group these cases under Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses and include only people who were convicted and sentenced. The records do not explain any sentence.
No close court-martial counterpart exists for this guideline in the site's crosswalk, so this post reports federal numbers only.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.5 (360), 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)
- §2A3.5 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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.