§2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
In fiscal year 2017, 23 of the 43 people sentenced under §2A6.2 (53%) received a sentence within the guideline range. That is a higher share than the 49% for all federal cases that year. The median prison term was 37 months (3.1 years), and 5 people were convicted after a trial.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence › §2A6.2: FY2017
In brief: In fiscal year 2017, 23 of the 43 people sentenced under §2A6.2 (53%) received a sentence within the guideline range. That is a higher share than the 49% for all federal cases that year. The median prison term was 37 months (3.1 years), and 5 people were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 43 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
Sentences Within the Range in Fiscal Year 2017
The guideline range is the span of prison terms the Sentencing Guidelines recommend. 23 of the 43 sentences (53%) were within it. 9 (21%) were below the range at the government's request, and 7 (16%) were below it without a government request. 4 sentences (9%) were above the range.
In fiscal year 2016, 39% of sentences under this guideline were within the range, and in fiscal year 2018 the figure was 48%. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, it was 42%.
How Long Prison Terms Were
40 of the 43 people (93%) were sentenced to prison, and 3 (7%) received probation only. The median prison term was 37 months. A quarter received 48 months or more, and a quarter received 27 months or less.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, the median prison term was 24 months. For §2A6.2 across the full period, it was 35 months. These are imposed terms, not time served.
Guilty Pleas and Trial Convictions
38 people (88%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted after a trial. Every plea agreement figure is for guilty pleas only: 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% did not.
The median prison term was 37 months after a guilty plea and 46 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 5 people, so it is a small count. The plea rate of 88% for this guideline compares with 97% for all guidelines in fiscal year 2017.
Mandatory Minimums and Other Orders
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 43 people with that information recorded (5%).
40 people (93%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (7%), and restitution for 3 (7%).
Criminal History and the Meaning of the Category
44% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 9% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The records do not connect a person's category to the length of the prison term in this post.
Where These Cases Come From
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2A6.2 "Stalking or Domestic Violence." The Commission lists these 43 cases under the offense type Stalking/Harassing. Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.
The table shows each year from 2016 to 2025. Over those years, 656 people were sentenced under this guideline and 92% pleaded guilty.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 36 | 24 months | 92% |
| 2017 | 43 | 37 months | 88% |
| 2018 | 63 | 38.5 months | 92% |
| 2019 | 80 | 33 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 63 | 33 months | 92% |
| 2021 | 55 | 31 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 79 | 33 months | 91% |
| 2023 | 74 | 34 months | 92% |
| 2024 | 73 | 38 months | 92% |
| 2025 | 90 | 35.5 months | 89% |
Limits of the Records
Only convicted and sentenced people are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, and the data gives no reasons for any sentence.
No close court-martial counterpart exists in the approved crosswalk, so this post stands on federal numbers alone.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A6.2 (43), 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)
- §2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.