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# §2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a6-1-threatening-or-harassing-communications-fy2025/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:24:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:24:59.000Z
- Description: In fiscal year 2025, the median prison term under §2A6.1 was 21 months after a guilty plea and 12 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on 11 people, and 188 people were sentenced under the guideline in all.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a6-1-threatening-or-harassing-communications/) › §2A6.1: FY2025

**In brief:** In fiscal year 2025, the median prison term under §2A6.1 was 21 months after a guilty plea and 12 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on 11 people, and 188 people were sentenced under the guideline in all.

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 188 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/).

## A Trial Median Lower Than the Plea Median

In most of the yearly records for this guideline, the trial median is higher than the plea median. In fiscal year 2025 it was lower: 12 months after a trial and 21 months after a guilty plea.

The trial figure is based on 11 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison. The data cannot show what separates their cases from the others, so the difference should be read as a description of this one year.

## Pleas and Plea Agreements

175 of the 188 people (93%) pleaded guilty. 13 were convicted after a trial. 83% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 17% were straight pleas.

For all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, guilty pleas were 98%, so the §2A6.1 rate was lower.

## Overall Prison Terms

161 people (86%) received a prison term. 24 (13%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 20 months. A quarter received 33 months or more, and a quarter received 9.2 months or less.

The median was also 20 months in fiscal year 2024\. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 187 people with that information recorded.

## Identifying the Guideline

The Guidelines Manual title is "Threatening or Harassing Communications; Hoaxes; False Liens." All 188 cases are in the Commission's Stalking/Harassing offense type.

Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025\. Only people convicted and sentenced are counted, and §2A6.1 is the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count.

## Position Against the Range

85 people (45%) were within the guideline range. 38 (20%) were below it at the government's request, and 48 (26%) were below it without a request. 17 (9%) were above it.

The within-range share was 48% in fiscal year 2024\. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, it was 51%.

## Supervised Release, Fines, Restitution, and Prior Records

159 people (85%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 14 (7%), and restitution for 13 (7%).

55% were in the lowest criminal history category and 11% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Longer Record and Limits

66,662 people were sentenced under all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, with a median prison term of 24 months. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,558 people were sentenced under §2A6.1\. 87% went to prison, the median prison term was 18 months, and 49% were within the range. The table lists each year.

The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal figures are reported. The records do not describe the conduct in any case.

| 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 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A6.1 (188), 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)
- [§2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a6-1-threatening-or-harassing-communications/) (overview)
- [§2A6.1 Threatening or Harassing Communications: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a6-1-threatening-or-harassing-communications-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.