§2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
34 people were sentenced under §2B2.1 in fiscal year 2018. The median prison term was 24 months (2 years), and 59% of sentences were within the guideline range. All 34 pleaded guilty.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a R › §2B2.1: FY2018
In brief: 34 people were sentenced under §2B2.1 in fiscal year 2018. The median prison term was 24 months (2 years), and 59% of sentences were within the guideline range. All 34 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 34 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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 Small Group With a 24-Month Median
The Guidelines Manual titles §2B2.1 "Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence." For fiscal year 2018, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 34 people with this primary guideline. 33 (97%) received a prison term.
The median prison term was 24 months (2 years). A quarter received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 14.2 months or less. 33 people were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months.
Fiscal year 2017 had a median of 21 months and fiscal year 2019 had a median of 18 months. With counts this small, a one-year difference is not a trend. The table below lists the count, median prison term, and guilty plea share for every fiscal year from 2016 to 2025.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 40 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 60 | 21 months | 98% |
| 2018 | 34 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 48 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 36 | 18 months | 94% |
| 2021 | 54 | 22.5 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 69 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 48 | 26.5 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 52 | 25.5 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 34 | 19 months | 97% |
Within-Range Sentences Were More Common
20 people (59%) were sentenced within the guideline range. 6 (18%) were below the range without a government request, and 4 (12%) were below it at the government's request. 4 (12%) were above the range.
The within-range share was higher than the 52% for this guideline over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It was also higher than the 51% for all guidelines in fiscal year 2018. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 26 people with that information recorded.
Pleas and Plea Agreements
34 of 34 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. 79% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 21% were straight pleas.
The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Dismissals and acquittals are not in it, so the records cannot show how many charged cases under this guideline ended without a conviction.
Criminal History and Financial Orders
21% of the group were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 21% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
No fine was ordered for any of the 34 people. Restitution was ordered for 23 (68%).
How Fiscal Year 2018 Compares With All Years and All Guidelines
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 475 people were sentenced under this guideline. 92% went to prison, the median prison term was 21 months, and 99% pleaded guilty.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2018, 69,425 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas. The Commission classifies the 34 cases here as the offense type Burglary/Trespass. This is the Commission's own category, and it groups cases by offense rather than by the name of the charge.
Scope of the Records
Fiscal year 2018 ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports federal numbers on their own. Individual cases and reasons for sentences are not in the records.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B2.1 (34), 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (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.