§2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 78 of the 80 people sentenced under §2A6.2 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. 78 people (98%) received a prison term, and the median was 33 months (2.8 years).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence › §2A6.2: FY2019
In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 78 of the 80 people sentenced under §2A6.2 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. 78 people (98%) received a prison term, and the median was 33 months (2.8 years).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 80 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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 98% Plea Rate
78 of the 80 people pleaded guilty, which is 98%. The same rate applied to all guidelines in fiscal year 2019. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the plea rate for §2A6.2 was 92%.
94% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 6% were straight pleas. The median prison term was 31.5 months after a guilty plea and 46.5 months after a trial. With 2 trial convictions, the trial figure says very little.
Prison Terms and Probation
78 of the 80 people (98%) were sentenced to prison, and 2 (3%) received probation only. The median prison term was 33 months. A quarter received 48 months or more, and a quarter received 24 months or less.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, the median was 21 months. For §2A6.2 across the full period, it was 35 months. In fiscal year 2018 the median for this guideline was 38.5 months.
The Guideline Range
38 sentences (48%) were within the range. 19 (24%) were below it at the government's request, and 12 (15%) were below it without a government request. 11 sentences (14%) were above the range.
The share within the range was 48% in fiscal year 2018 for this guideline as well, and 51% in fiscal year 2020. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, it was 51%.
Mandatory Minimums, Fines, and Restitution
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 5 of the 80 people with that information recorded (6%).
78 people (98%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 6 people (8%), and restitution for 20 (25%).
Criminal History
43% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 4% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Table and Definitions
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2A6.2 "Stalking or Domestic Violence." The Commission classifies these 80 cases as the offense type Stalking/Harassing. Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
The table shows the count, median prison term, and plea rate for each year from 2016 to 2025. The count of 80 people in fiscal year 2019 compares with 63 in fiscal year 2018 and 63 in fiscal year 2020.
| 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 What the Data Shows
A mandatory minimum is a lowest prison term set by statute. The data records whether one applied to a person, but not which count carried it or how long it was. Supervised release is a period of court supervision after prison, and the median term here was 36 months.
Acquittals and dismissals are not in the Commission's data, so the plea rate is the share of people who were convicted. It is not the share of all people charged.
The records do not explain why any sentence was above or below the range. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A6.2 (80), 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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A6.2 Stalking or Domestic Violence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.