§2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Of the 31 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 under §2B3.2, "Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage," all 31 received a prison term. The median prison term was 34 months (2.8 years). Only 19% of sentences were within the guideline range, and 48% were below the ran
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Dam › §2B3.2: FY2023
In brief: Of the 31 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 under §2B3.2, "Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage," all 31 received a prison term. The median prison term was 34 months (2.8 years). Only 19% of sentences were within the guideline range, and 48% were below the range without a government request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 31 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.
Sentences Below the Guideline Range Were Common
The guideline range is the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. In fiscal year 2023, 6 of the 31 sentences (19%) were within that range. Another 9 (29%) were below the range at the government's request. A further 15 (48%) were below the range without a government request, and 1 (3%) was above it.
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2B3.2, 33% of sentences were within the range. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, under every guideline, the figure was 42%. The 19% here is lower than both. The previous fiscal year, 2022, had 26% within the range, and the next, 2024, had 29%.
Prison Terms and Pleas
All 31 people (100%) received a prison term, and 0 received probation only. Across all fiscal years under this guideline, 94% were sent to prison.
The median prison term was 34 months. A quarter received 60 months or more, and a quarter received 24 months or less. The median for all years under §2B3.2 is 37 months, and the median for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 was 30 months.
A total of 29 people (94%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 34 months. After a trial it was 50.9 months, but that figure rests on only 2 people. Among guilty pleas, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement.
| 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% |
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, and Money Orders
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 3 of the 31 people (10%). Every person (31, or 100%) was ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 1 person (3%). Restitution was ordered for 6 (19%).
In criminal history, 52% were in the lowest category, category I, and 10% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
How Fiscal Year 2023 Compares With Nearby Years
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. In fiscal year 2022, 23 people were sentenced under this guideline and the median prison term was 57 months. In fiscal year 2024, 28 people were sentenced and the median was 30 months.
The median of 34 months in fiscal year 2023 is lower than the 2022 figure and higher than the 2024 figure. These are small groups, and the records cannot show why a median moved from one year to the next. The yearly table lists every fiscal year from 2016 to 2025.
Limits of the Data
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. The Commission classed all 31 cases as Extortion/Racketeering.
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records show terms imposed, not time served, and they do not show why any sentence was set where it was.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.2 (31), 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)
- §2B3.2 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B3.2 Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.