§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
In fiscal year 2023, 282 people were sentenced under §2A3.5 as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 18 months after a guilty plea and 63 months after a trial, though the trial figure is based on only 5 people. 270 (96%) received a prison term overall.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender › §2A3.5: FY2023
In brief: In fiscal year 2023, 282 people were sentenced under §2A3.5 as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 18 months after a guilty plea and 63 months after a trial, though the trial figure is based on only 5 people. 270 (96%) received a prison term overall.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 282 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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 of 63 Months From 5 People
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 277 guilty pleas (98%) and 5 trial convictions among the 282 people sentenced in fiscal year 2023 under §2A3.5. The median prison term was 18 months after a guilty plea and 63 months after a trial.
A group of 5 is too few to establish how trials compare with pleas in general. The records do not show the facts or charges behind the 5 sentences.
Of the guilty pleas, 64% had a written plea agreement, and 36% were straight pleas.
Prison, Probation, and the Overall Median
Of the 282 people, 270 (96%) went to prison and 8 (3%) received probation only. The median prison term for the whole group was 18 months.
The quarter of terms at the top began at 27 months, and the quarter at the bottom ended at 12 months. The terms are those imposed at sentencing and are not a measure of time served.
Criminal History in Fiscal Year 2023
In fiscal year 2023, 5% were in category I, the lowest, and 22% were in category VI, the highest.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so no military figure matches this one.
Within, Below, and Above the Range
The Guidelines Manual title for §2A3.5 is "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender." In 147 cases (52%), the sentence was within the guideline range. In 94 cases (33%), it was below the range without a government request. In 27 cases (10%), it was below at the government's request, and in 14 cases (5%) it was above.
The share within the range was 51% in fiscal year 2022 and 52% in fiscal year 2024. In all guidelines combined for fiscal year 2023, it was 42%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Minimums
Supervised release was ordered for 267 people (95%) with a median term of 60 months, and 6 people (2%) received it for life.
9 people (3%) were fined, none (0%) were ordered to pay restitution, and no mandatory minimum prison term applied to anyone in the group (0%).
Counts Across the Years
Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. The count was 307 in fiscal year 2022 and 310 in fiscal year 2024. The table lists each year's count, median, and plea share.
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined, the guideline covered 3,269 people, 96% went to prison, and 55% were within the range. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 30 months, and 97% 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% |
What Is Missing
The Commission files group these cases under Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses and leave out anyone who was not convicted. No close court-martial counterpart exists for this guideline in the crosswalk on this site, so the federal numbers are reported alone.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.5 (282), 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.