§2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 34 of the 36 people sentenced under §2B2.1 pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted after a trial. 31 people (86%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months. 5 people (14%) received probation only.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a R › §2B2.1: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 34 of the 36 people sentenced under §2B2.1 pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted after a trial. 31 people (86%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months. 5 people (14%) received probation only.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 36 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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.
2 Trial Convictions and 34 Guilty Pleas
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 36 people in fiscal year 2020 with §2B2.1 as the primary guideline. 34 (94%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. For this guideline over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 99% pleaded guilty.
The median prison term was 18 months after a guilty plea and 12.5 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on 2 people, so it should not be read as a pattern. A written plea agreement is a signed agreement between the defendant and the government, and a straight plea has no such agreement. Among the guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas.
Prison and Probation
The Guidelines Manual titles §2B2.1 "Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence." Of the 36 people, 31 (86%) were sentenced to prison, and 5 (14%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 18 months. A quarter received 26.9 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. Supervised release followed for 30 people (83%), with a median term of 36 months.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 35 people with that information recorded.
| 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% |
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
16 people (44%) were within the guideline range. 10 (28%) were below it without a government request, and 8 (22%) were below it at the government's request. 2 (6%) were above the range.
The within-range share was 56% in fiscal year 2019 and 46% in fiscal year 2021. It was 52% across all years for this guideline and 50% for every guideline in fiscal year 2020.
Restitution, Fines, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 30 people (83%). No fine was ordered for any of the 36.
33% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 17% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Wider Numbers
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 475 people were sentenced under this guideline, 92% went to prison, and the median prison term was 21 months. In fiscal year 2020, 64,565 people were sentenced under all guidelines, with a median prison term of 18 months.
A case is counted here when §2B2.1 was the primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Fiscal year 2019 had 48 people under §2B2.1 and fiscal year 2021 had 54, with medians of 18 months and 22.5 months.
Limits on These Numbers
Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The Commission classifies these cases as the offense type Burglary/Trespass and counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so the post reports federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B2.1 (36), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.