§2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, the median prison term under guideline §2B3.2 was 41 months (3.4 years), which was higher than the 21-month median for all federal cases that year. All 45 people sentenced under this guideline received a prison term. A total of 49% of the sentences were within the guideline rang
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Dam › §2B3.2: FY2019
In brief: In fiscal year 2019, the median prison term under guideline §2B3.2 was 41 months (3.4 years), which was higher than the 21-month median for all federal cases that year. All 45 people sentenced under this guideline received a prison term. A total of 49% of the sentences were within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 45 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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.
How the Median Compares With All Federal Cases
For every guideline in fiscal year 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 21 months. Under §2B3.2, the median was 41 months.
The all-guidelines group includes many kinds of offenses, so the difference does not describe any particular case. It shows only that this guideline's median was higher.
A quarter of the §2B3.2 group received 54 months or more, and a quarter received 24 months or less.
Who Was Counted
The Commission counted 45 people whose primary guideline was §2B3.2, "Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage." The Commission's offense type for these cases was Extortion/Racketeering.
Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. Only convicted and sentenced people are in the data. All 45 (100%) received a prison term, and none received probation only.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
Guilty pleas were entered by 42 of 45 people (93%), and 3 were convicted after a trial. Written plea agreements covered 98% of the guilty pleas, and 2% were straight pleas.
After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 39 months. After a trial, it was 51 months, based on 3 people. That count is too small to describe trials in general.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 45 people.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
A sentence within the range went to 22 people (49%). A below-range sentence at the government's request went to 6 people (13%), and a below-range sentence without that request went to 15 people (33%). An above-range sentence went to 2 people (4%).
The guideline range is the range the court calculates for a case. Under this guideline, 44% of 2018 sentences and 30% of 2020 sentences were within the range. Across all federal cases in 2019, the share was 51%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release was ordered for 44 people (98%), with a median term of 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 3 people (7%), and restitution for 17 (38%).
Criminal History
Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 53% of the group, and category VI, the highest, applied to 7%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.
Earlier, Later, and All Years
In fiscal year 2018, 41 people were sentenced under §2B3.2 with a median of 37 months. In fiscal year 2020, 23 people were sentenced with a median of 40.5 months.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 344 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of these, 94% went to prison, the median prison term was 37 months, and 92% pleaded guilty. The 2019 median was higher than that combined figure. The table lists each fiscal year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 63 | 36 months | 92% |
| 2017 | 41 | 38.5 months | 93% |
| 2018 | 41 | 37 months | 83% |
| 2019 | 45 | 41 months | 93% |
| 2020 | 23 | 40.5 months | 91% |
| 2021 | 28 | 30 months | 93% |
| 2022 | 23 | 57 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 31 | 34 months | 94% |
| 2024 | 28 | 30 months | 93% |
| 2025 | 21 | 62.6 months | 90% |
Limits
The terms are those imposed, not time served. The records do not show the facts behind a case or why a court chose a sentence, and one year of 45 people does not make a trend.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.2 (45), 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)
- §2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.