§2B2.3 Trespass: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 39 people were sentenced in federal court in cases where the primary guideline was §2B2.3, titled "Trespass." 19 of the 39 (49%) received a prison term, and the median prison term among them was 2.5 months. 38 of the 39 (97%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 39 people were sentenced in federal court in cases where the primary guideline was §2B2.3, titled "Trespass." 19 of the 39 (49%) received a prison term, and the median prison term among them was 2.5 months. 38 of the 39 (97%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 39 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
What Does a §2B2.3 Sentence Look Like in Fiscal Year 2022?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 39 people whose cases were sentenced under §2B2.3 in fiscal year 2022. The guideline is titled "Trespass" in the Guidelines Manual. The Commission places these cases in its Burglary/Trespass offense type.
19 of the 39 (49%) were sent to prison. 12 (31%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The records in this post do not break out what happened to the remaining people.
Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count in a case.
How Long Were the Prison Terms?
Among the 19 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 2.5 months. A quarter received 3.5 months or more, and a quarter received 0.8 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not the time actually served.
After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 2.7 months. The one person convicted after a trial and sent to prison received 0.5 months. A single case cannot show how trial sentences compare with plea sentences.
19 people (49%) were also ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 12 months.
Guilty Pleas Were Nearly Universal
38 of the 39 people (97%) pleaded guilty. 1 person was convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The Commission data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, so these numbers say nothing about how often trespass charges ended without a conviction.
Sentences and the Guideline Range
All 39 sentences (100%) were within the guideline range. None was below the range, whether at the government's request or without one, and none was above it.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 38 people with that information recorded. The sentences were therefore set under the guideline range alone, not under a statutory floor.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 12 people (31%). Restitution was ordered for 34 (87%), which was far more common than fines in this group.
In criminal history, 79% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category, category I, and 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that measure cannot be compared across the federal and military systems.
Fiscal Year 2022 Compared With Other Years
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 158 people were sentenced under §2B2.3. 54% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 2 months, 91% pleaded guilty, and 95% of sentences were within the guideline range.
Fiscal year 2022 had more people under this guideline than any other year in the table below. Fiscal year 2021 had 3, and fiscal year 2023 had 33. The next year had a median prison term of 2 months and 88% of sentences within the range.
For all guidelines combined in fiscal year 2022, 64,142 people were sentenced. Their median prison term was 30 months, 97% pleaded guilty, and 42% of sentences were within the guideline range. Trespass sentences were shorter and were within the range more often.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 7 | 2.8 months | 4 of 7 |
| 2017 | 5 | 2.7 months | 4 of 5 |
| 2018 | 7 | 4.4 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2019 | 9 | 6 months | 8 of 9 |
| 2020 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2021 | 3 | 1.2 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 39 | 2.5 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 33 | 2 months | 88% |
| 2024 | 41 | 1.6 months | 95% |
| 2025 | 12 | 3 months | 83% |
What These Records Cannot Show
The records do not describe what the trespass involved or why a person received prison instead of probation. They also do not show whether the change in the number of cases between years reflects a change in charging, in reporting, or in conduct.
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the crosswalk used here, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B2.3 (39), 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)
- §2B2.3 Trespass: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B2.3 Trespass: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.