§2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
Among the 1,523 people sent to prison under §2B3.1 in fiscal year 2017, the median prison term was 84 months, which is lower than the median in any other year in the table below. The Commission counted 1,544 people sentenced under the guideline. A mandatory minimum applied to 37%.
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In brief: Among the 1,523 people sent to prison under §2B3.1 in fiscal year 2017, the median prison term was 84 months, which is lower than the median in any other year in the table below. The Commission counted 1,544 people sentenced under the guideline. A mandatory minimum applied to 37%.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 1,544 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
The Lowest Median in the Table
The median prison term of 84 months equals 7 years. The table shows medians of 87 months in fiscal year 2016 and 90 months in fiscal year 2018. Every later year in the table is also higher than 84 months.
A quarter of the people sent to prison received 141 months or more, and a quarter received 52 months or less. These are terms imposed by the court, not time served.
The data does not explain why the median differs from year to year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,582 | 87 months | 94% |
| 2017 | 1,544 | 84 months | 94% |
| 2018 | 1,691 | 90 months | 95% |
| 2019 | 1,805 | 95.5 months | 95% |
| 2020 | 1,297 | 87 months | 95% |
| 2021 | 1,290 | 93 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 1,424 | 97 months | 95% |
| 2023 | 1,490 | 96 months | 95% |
| 2024 | 1,305 | 96 months | 94% |
| 2025 | 1,233 | 92 months | 95% |
Who Was Sentenced and Where They Went
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. In it, 1,544 people were sentenced with §2B3.1 as the primary guideline. Prison went to 1,523 (99%), and 11 people (less than 1%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. A life sentence went to 2 people.
Mandatory Minimums and Range Position
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 574 of the 1,543 people with that information, or 37%.
Range information was recorded for all 1,544 people. Within the range: 39% (606). Below the range at the government's request: 26% (401). Below the range without a government request: 27% (421). Above the range: 8% (116).
Fiscal year 2016 had 45% within the range, and fiscal year 2018 had 38%.
Trials Were Few but Carried Long Terms
A guilty plea was entered by 1,446 people (94%), and 98 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 84 months after a plea and 293.5 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 98 people sent to prison.
Written plea agreements covered 86% of guilty pleas, and 14% were straight pleas. The groups differ in facts that the records do not show, so the numbers do not measure the effect of a trial.
Restitution, Fines, Supervised Release, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 1,090 people (71%). A fine was ordered for 34 (2%). Supervised release followed prison for 1,520 people (98%), and the median term was 36 months.
In criminal history, 26% were in category I, the lowest, and 20% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Comparison With the Whole Period and All Guidelines
The guideline's title is "Robbery," the same label the Commission uses for its offense type. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so the post reports federal numbers alone.
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, 14,661 people were sentenced under §2B3.1. In that period, 99% went to prison, the median was 92 months, and 40% were within the range.
Every guideline in fiscal year 2017 covered 66,873 people, with a median of 24 months, 97% guilty pleas, and 49% within the range. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.1 (1,544), 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)
- §2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.