§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 291 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A3.5 as the primary guideline. 274 (94%) were sent to prison, with a median of 18 months, and 13 (4%) received probation only. The 4 people convicted after a trial had a median prison term of 10.2 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender › §2A3.5: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 291 people were sentenced in federal court with §2A3.5 as the primary guideline. 274 (94%) were sent to prison, with a median of 18 months, and 13 (4%) received probation only. The 4 people convicted after a trial had a median prison term of 10.2 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 291 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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 Trial Median Below the Plea Median
Of the 291 people sentenced in fiscal year 2020 under §2A3.5, 287 (99%) pleaded guilty and 4 were convicted after a trial. The guideline is titled "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender" in the manual.
The median prison term after a trial was 10.2 months. After a guilty plea it was 18 months. A group of 4 is too small to support a pattern, and the records do not show the facts behind those 4 sentences.
Written plea agreements covered 66% of the guilty pleas, and 33% were straight pleas.
Prison, Probation, and the Median Term
The Commission recorded a prison term for 274 people (94%) and probation only for 13 (4%). Probation only means the court ordered no prison or other confinement.
For those in prison, the median term was 18 months. The upper quartile started at 24 months, and the lower quartile ended at 12 months. All guidelines combined also had a median of 18 months that year.
The numbers are terms imposed by the court, not time served.
Guideline Range Results
Within the guideline range, 152 sentences (52%) were recorded. Below the range without a government request were 89 (31%), and below it at the government's request were 42 (14%). Above the range were 8 (3%).
In fiscal year 2019, the within-range share was 62%, and in fiscal year 2021 it was 52%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, it was 50%.
Supervised Release and Other Conditions
272 people (93%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, for a median of 60 months. 5 people (2%) received a lifetime term.
10 people (3%) were fined. None (0%) were ordered to pay restitution, and none (0%) had a mandatory minimum.
Criminal History
The lowest criminal history category, category I, held 6% of the group. The highest, category VI, held 19%. Court-martial records have no equivalent field.
The Fiscal Year 2020 Count in Context
Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The count of 291 followed 360 people in fiscal year 2019 and preceded 257 in fiscal year 2021.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 3,269 people were sentenced under this guideline, 96% went to prison, 99% pleaded guilty, and 55% were within the range. All guidelines together covered 64,565 people in fiscal year 2020, and 98% of them pleaded guilty. The full yearly table is below.
| 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% |
What the Records Do Not Show
The Commission files group these cases under Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses and count only people who were convicted and sentenced. They do not show the facts of any case.
The site's crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported here.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.5 (291), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.