> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a3-5-failure-to-register-as-a-sex-offender-fy2025/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:06:53.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:06:53.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2025, 291 people were sentenced under §2A3.5 as the primary guideline, and 53% of the sentences were within the guideline range (155). 275 (95%) received a prison term with a median of 18 months, and 12 (4%) received probation only. Only 2 people were convicted after a trial. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a3-5-failure-to-register-as-a-sex-offender/) › §2A3.5: FY2025 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2025, 291 people were sentenced under §2A3.5 as the primary guideline, and 53% of the sentences were within the guideline range (155). 275 (95%) received a prison term with a median of 18 months, and 12 (4%) received probation only. Only 2 people were convicted after a trial. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 291 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Where Fiscal Year 2025 Sentences Fell The U.S. Sentencing Commission had range information for all 291 people. 155 (53%) were sentenced within the guideline range. 77 (26%) were below the range without a government request, and 44 (15%) were below it at the government's request. 15 (5%) were above the range. The previous year, fiscal year 2024, had 52% within the range. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, the share was 51%. ## Prison Terms and Probation The manual titles §2A3.5 "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender." In fiscal year 2025, 275 of the 291 people (95%) received prison and 12 (4%) received probation only. The median prison term was 18 months. The top quarter of terms began at 26.5 months, and the bottom quarter ended at 12 months. Terms are those imposed by the court. ## Only 2 Trial Convictions 289 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty, and only 2 were convicted after a trial. After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 18 months. After a trial, it was 39 months. With 2 people in the trial group, the 39 months says little about trials in general. Among the guilty pleas, 73% had a written plea agreement, and 27% were straight pleas. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution 276 people (95%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 60 months, and 7 people (2%) received supervised release for life. 8 people (3%) were fined, 1 person (less than 1%) was ordered to pay restitution, and no mandatory minimum applied to anyone (0%). ## Criminal History 7% of the group was in the lowest criminal history category (category I), and 19% was in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Fiscal Year 2025 in the Series Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, and is the last year in the series. The count was 310 in fiscal year 2024, and the table lists every year. From fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025, 3,269 people were sentenced under this guideline. 96% went to prison, the median prison term was 18 months, 99% pleaded guilty, and 55% were within the range. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, 66,662 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 24 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% | ## What the Records Do Not Show The Commission groups these cases under Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses and counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. No close court-martial counterpart for this guideline exists in the site's crosswalk, so the post reports federal numbers alone. The records do not show the facts of any case, and they do not explain why a sentence was longer or shorter than another. Fiscal year 2025 is 1 year of data and not a trend. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a3-5-failure-to-register-as-a-sex-offender/) (overview) - [§2A3.5 Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a3-5-failure-to-register-as-a-sex-offender-fy2024/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.