§2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
184 people were sentenced under §2A6.1 in fiscal year 2022, the largest yearly count in the table through that year. 159 (86%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months, and a mandatory minimum applied to 4 of the 183 people with that information recorded.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications › §2A6.1: FY2022
In brief: 184 people were sentenced under §2A6.1 in fiscal year 2022, the largest yearly count in the table through that year. 159 (86%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months, and a mandatory minimum applied to 4 of the 183 people with that information recorded.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 184 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Mandatory Minimums Were Rare
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 4 of the 183 people with that information recorded (2%). For nearly everyone in the group, the court was not bound by a mandatory minimum.
Most people received a prison term anyway. 159 of 184 (86%) were sent to prison, and 19 (10%) received probation only.
How Long the Prison Terms Were
The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 33 months or more, and a quarter received 11 months or less. The terms are the ones imposed, not time served.
The median was 15 months in fiscal year 2021 and 18 months in fiscal year 2023.
The Guideline and Its Offense Type
§2A6.1 appears in the Guidelines Manual as "Threatening or Harassing Communications; Hoaxes; False Liens." The Commission assigns all 184 cases to Stalking/Harassing.
Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. Each person counted was convicted, and §2A6.1 was the primary guideline, meaning it set the offense level for the most serious count.
17 Trial Convictions
167 people (91%) pleaded guilty, and 17 were convicted after a trial. 87% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 12% were straight pleas.
After a guilty plea the median prison term was 15.9 months. After a trial it was 41 months, based on 17 people. The groups may differ in many ways the data does not capture.
Range Positions
79 people (43%) were within the guideline range. 34 (19%) were below it at the government's request, and 56 (31%) were below it without a request. 14 (8%) were above it.
Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2022, 42% of sentences were within the range, about the same as the §2A6.1 share. The §2A6.1 share was 46% in fiscal year 2021 and 48% in fiscal year 2023.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Prior Records
157 people (85%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 24 (13%), and restitution for 16 (9%).
46% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category and 14% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Federal Totals and the Longer Record
64,142 people were sentenced under all guidelines in fiscal year 2022, with a median prison term of 30 months and 97% pleading guilty. The §2A6.1 median was lower.
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,558 people were sentenced under §2A6.1. 87% went to prison, the median was 18 months, 92% pleaded guilty, and 49% were within the range. The table shows every year. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers appear here.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 135 | 18 months | 93% |
| 2017 | 116 | 20 months | 91% |
| 2018 | 146 | 24 months | 90% |
| 2019 | 137 | 18 months | 90% |
| 2020 | 154 | 18 months | 91% |
| 2021 | 159 | 15 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 184 | 18 months | 91% |
| 2023 | 163 | 18 months | 91% |
| 2024 | 176 | 20 months | 92% |
| 2025 | 188 | 20 months | 93% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A6.1 (184), 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)
- §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.