§2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 1,490 people sentenced under §2B3.1 in fiscal year 2023, more than the 1,424 in fiscal year 2022. The median prison term was 96 months, or 8 years. After a trial the median was 168 months, and after a guilty plea it was 96 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B3.1 Robbery › §2B3.1: FY2023
In brief: The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 1,490 people sentenced under §2B3.1 in fiscal year 2023, more than the 1,424 in fiscal year 2022. The median prison term was 96 months, or 8 years. After a trial the median was 168 months, and after a guilty plea it was 96 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 1,490 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
Who Was Sentenced in Fiscal Year 2023
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. In it, 1,490 people were sentenced with §2B3.1 as the primary guideline, and the next year, 2024, had 1,305.
Prison went to 1,479 people (more than 99%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 11 (less than 1%).
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the Commission's data.
How Long the Prison Terms Were
The median prison term was 96 months. A quarter of the people sent to prison received 144 months or more, and a quarter received 57.5 months or less. The year before had a median of 97 months.
These are terms as imposed. They are not the time served.
Trials Compared With Guilty Pleas
A guilty plea was entered by 1,410 people (95%), and 80 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 96 months after a plea and 168 months after a trial. The trial figure comes from 80 people sent to prison.
Written plea agreements covered 89% of the guilty pleas, and 11% were straight pleas. The groups differ in facts the records do not show, so the numbers do not measure the effect of going to trial.
| 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% |
Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 602 of the 1,489 people with that information, or 40%.
A sentence within the guideline range went to 40% (593). A sentence below the range at the government's request went to 28% (415), and below the range without such a request to 26% (390). Above the range: 6% (91). Fiscal year 2022 had 38% within the range, and fiscal year 2024 had 40%.
Supervised Release and Restitution
Supervised release was ordered for 1,472 people (99%), with a median term of 36 months, and 1 person (less than 1%) received supervised release for life. Restitution was ordered for 924 people (62%), and a fine for 27 (2%).
Criminal History and Comparison Figures
In criminal history, 28% of the people were in category I, the lowest, and 18% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Manual title of the guideline is "Robbery," and the Commission uses the same label for its offense type. For fiscal years 2016 to 2025, it covers 14,661 people, with a median of 92 months and 40% within the range. For every guideline in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people were sentenced, with a median of 30 months and 42% within the range.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are reported. The data cannot show the facts of a case or why a sentence was set.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.1 (1,490), 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 2022 (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.