> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b3-1-robbery/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:39:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:39:38.000Z - Description: Federal courts sentenced 14,661 people under the robbery guideline, §2B3.1, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 99% received prison, and the median prison term was 92 months. A mandatory minimum applied to 40%, and the median after a trial was 204 months. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › §2B3.1 **In brief:** Federal courts sentenced 14,661 people under the robbery guideline, §2B3.1, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 99% received prison, and the median prison term was 92 months. A mandatory minimum applied to 40%, and the median after a trial was 204 months. Updated November 2, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 14,661 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Robbery Sentences in Federal Court The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2B3.1 simply "Robbery." The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 14,661 people sentenced with this as the primary guideline over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 14,490 of them (99%) received a prison term, and 123 (less than 1%) received probation only. The median prison term was 92 months (7.7 years). A quarter received 144 months or more, and a quarter received 54 months or less. 18 people received a life sentence. ## Trial Versus Plea 13,877 people (95%) pleaded guilty, and 784 were convicted after a trial. 87% of the guilty pleas had a written agreement. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 87 months. After a trial it was 204 months, based on 783 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. The median after a trial is higher than the median after a guilty plea. The records do not show whether the groups of cases were alike, and they do not show why the terms differ. ## Mandatory Minimums A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 5,837 people (40%). A mandatory minimum is a prison term that the law requires at least, and the Commission's data marks which cases it applied to. The sheet does not show how often a minimum set the final sentence, or how long each minimum was. It also does not show whether cases with a minimum had longer or shorter terms than cases without one. ## Position Against the Guideline Range Of 14,657 cases with the information, 40% (5,877) were within the range. 27% (3,910) were below the range at the government's request, and another 27% (3,962) were below it without a government request. 6% (908) were above the range. ## After Prison: Supervised Release, Restitution, Fines Supervised release followed for 14,399 people (98%), with a median term of 36 months. 1 person (less than 1%) received it for life. Restitution was ordered for 9,861 people (67%), which is much more often than a fine: 324 people (2%). In criminal history, 27% were in the lowest category and 19% were in the highest. ## Did the Median Change? The yearly median prison term was 87 months in 2016, 84 months in 2017, and 90 months in 2018\. It was 95.5 months in 2019 and 87 months in 2020\. From 2021 to 2025 it was 93, 97, 96, 96, and 92 months. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 6,622 people with a median of 90 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 8,039 people with a median of 96 months. The number sentenced each year ranged from 1,233 in 2025 to 1,805 in 2019\. The records do not explain the changes. | 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% | ## Limits of the Records The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. The data omits acquittals and dismissals, and it reports terms imposed, not time served. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.1 (14,661), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-1-offenses-involving-counterfeit-bearer-obligations-of-the/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b4-1-bribery-in-procurement-of-bank-loan-and/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-3-criminal-infringement-of-copyright-or-trademark/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b2-1-burglary-of-a-residence-or-a-structure/) (same guideline chapter part) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.