§2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 13 people were sentenced under §2B3.3, and all 13 pleaded guilty. In all, 7 (54%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 12 months, and 7 sentences (54%) were within the guideline range.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 13 people were sentenced under §2B3.3, and all 13 pleaded guilty. In all, 7 (54%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 12 months, and 7 sentences (54%) were within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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.
All 13 Pleaded Guilty
Every one of the 13 people sentenced under §2B3.3 in fiscal year 2020 pleaded guilty (100%). None was convicted after a trial.
Of the guilty pleas, 85% had a written plea agreement and 15% were straight pleas with no agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 13 people with that information recorded.
Prison Terms, Probation, and Supervised Release
In all, 7 of the 13 people (54%) received a prison term, and 4 (31%) received probation only.
The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 14.5 months or more, and a quarter received 9 months or less. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 7 people (54%), with a median term of 12 months.
How the Sentences Related to the Guideline Range
Within the range were 7 sentences (54%). Below the range at the government's request were 5 (38%), and below the range without a government request was 1 (8%). None were above the range.
For all years of §2B3.3, 46% of sentences were within the range. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, the share was 50%. Fiscal year 2020 under this guideline was higher than the first figure and about the same as the second.
In fiscal year 2019 the share under §2B3.3 was 64%, and in fiscal year 2021 it was 30%.
Financial Penalties and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 2 people (15%). Restitution was ordered for 7 (54%).
In the lowest criminal history category I were 69% of the group, and none were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Guideline Title and What Was Counted
The Guidelines Manual titles §2B3.3 "Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion". The U.S. Sentencing Commission places these 13 cases in its Extortion/Racketeering offense type. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
Surrounding Years and Federal Totals
In fiscal year 2019, 11 people were sentenced under §2B3.3, with a median prison term of 15 months. In fiscal year 2021, 10 people were sentenced, with a median of 13.7 months.
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 100 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of those, 61% went to prison, the median prison term was 13.9 months, and 94% pleaded guilty. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, 64,565 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 18 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The table lists every year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 18 | 12 months | 89% |
| 2017 | 6 | 10 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2018 | 16 | 12 months | 94% |
| 2019 | 11 | 15 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 13 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 10 | 13.7 months | 90% |
| 2022 | 5 | 24 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2023 | 10 | 4.5 months | 90% |
| 2024 | 6 | 17.7 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2025 | 5 | 21.4 months | 4 of 5 |
What the Records Do Not Show
The records do not describe any case, so they cannot explain the sentences. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the post reports federal numbers alone.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.3 (13), 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)
- §2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.