§2B2.3 Trespass: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
Every one of the 41 sentences imposed in fiscal year 2024 under §2B2.3 ("Trespass") was within the guideline range. 20 of the 41 people (49%) received prison, with a median prison term of 1.6 months, and 39 (95%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Every one of the 41 sentences imposed in fiscal year 2024 under §2B2.3 ("Trespass") was within the guideline range. 20 of the 41 people (49%) received prison, with a median prison term of 1.6 months, and 39 (95%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 41 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
All 41 Sentences Were Within the Guideline Range
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 41 people sentenced in fiscal year 2024 whose primary guideline was §2B2.3. The position of the sentence against the guideline range was known for all 41. 100% (41) were within the range. None was below the range, at the government's request or otherwise, and none was above it.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 95% of sentences under this guideline were within the range. The yearly lines in the sheet show 88% for fiscal year 2023 and 100% for fiscal year 2025.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 41 people.
Prison, Probation, and Prison Length
20 of the 41 people (49%) received a prison term. 11 (27%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term among those sent to prison was 1.6 months.
A quarter of the people sent to prison received 2.6 months or more, and a quarter received 1.4 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not the time served.
19 people (46%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median supervised release term was 12 months.
Pleas and the 2 Trial Convictions
39 of the 41 people (95%) pleaded guilty. 2 were convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 1.5 months. After a trial it was 3.3 months, based on 2 people sentenced to prison. That is too small a group to compare with the plea group.
Only convicted and sentenced people are in this data. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted.
Money Orders and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 40 of the 41 people (98%). A fine was ordered for 14 (34%).
In criminal history, 95% were in the lowest category, category I, and 2% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so there is nothing equivalent to compare.
Where Fiscal Year 2024 Falls in the Yearly Table
Fiscal year 2024 had 41 people, the largest count in the table. Fiscal year 2022 had 39, fiscal year 2023 had 33, and fiscal year 2025 had 12. Before 2022, the yearly counts were between 2 and 9.
The median prison term of 1.6 months in 2024 was lower than the median in 2023, which was 2 months, and lower than the median in 2025, which was 3 months. Each year's median rests on a small number of people sent to prison, so one year's figure should not be read as a trend.
Across all years from 2016 to 2025, 158 people were sentenced under §2B2.3. 54% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 2 months, and 91% pleaded guilty.
| 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% |
Comparison With All Federal Sentences in 2024
In fiscal year 2024, which ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, 61,678 people were sentenced under all guidelines combined. Their median prison term was 30 months and 97% pleaded guilty. 46% of their sentences were within the guideline range.
Trespass sentences were within the range more often and were much shorter. The groups consist of very different offenses, so the comparison describes the size of the difference only.
Limits of the Records
The records do not show what each trespass involved or why a judge chose prison or probation. They have no court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the crosswalk used here, so the post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B2.3 (41), 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)
- §2B2.3 Trespass: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (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.