> ## 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. # §2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b3-3-blackmail-and-similar-forms-of-extortion-fy2021/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:58:54.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:58:54.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2021, 10 people were sentenced under §2B3.3, and 6 (60%) received a prison term with a median of 13.7 months. The spread was wide: a quarter of the prison terms were 27.5 months or more, and a quarter were 1.9 months or less. Only 3 sentences (30%) were within the guideline range. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b3-3-blackmail-and-similar-forms-of-extortion/) › §2B3.3: FY2021 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2021, 10 people were sentenced under §2B3.3, and 6 (60%) received a prison term with a median of 13.7 months. The spread was wide: a quarter of the prison terms were 27.5 months or more, and a quarter were 1.9 months or less. Only 3 sentences (30%) were within the guideline range. Updated November 4, 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 10 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021\. 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/). ## A Wide Spread of Prison Terms Among the 6 people sent to prison under §2B3.3 in fiscal year 2021, the median prison term was 13.7 months. A quarter received 27.5 months or more. A quarter received 1.9 months or less. In all, 4 of the 10 people (40%) received probation only, meaning no prison and no other confinement. Supervised release after prison was ordered for 6 people (60%), with a median term of 18 months. Prison terms here are the terms imposed, not time served. With only 6 people in the prison group, one sentence at either end changes the quartile figures a great deal. ## Sentences Against the Guideline Range In all, 3 sentences (30%) were within the range, 3 (30%) were below the range without a government request, 2 (20%) were below the range at the government's request, and 2 (20%) were above the range. For all years of §2B3.3, 46% of sentences were within the range. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2021, the share was 43%. The within-range share for this guideline was lower than both. In fiscal year 2020 it had been 54%. ## Guilty Pleas and the Single Trial Of the 10 people, 9 (90%) pleaded guilty and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 7.4 months. The person convicted at trial and sent to prison received 30 months. One trial case cannot support a general comparison. Among the 9 guilty pleas, 8 had a written plea agreement and 1 was a straight plea with no agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 10 people with that information recorded. ## Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History The court ordered fines for 2 people (20%) and restitution for 4 (40%). Criminal history category I held 90% of the group, and category VI held none. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## What §2B3.3 Covers and How People Were Counted In the Guidelines Manual, §2B3.3 is “Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion”. The 10 people counted here had §2B3.3 as the guideline that set the offense level for their most serious count, and the Commission assigns them to Extortion/Racketeering. The fiscal year covers October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021\. People who were acquitted or whose cases were dismissed do not appear. ## Where the Year Fits The year before, fiscal year 2020, had 13 people and a median prison term of 12 months. The all-years record for this guideline covers 100 people: 61% went to prison, the median prison term was 13.9 months, and 94% pleaded guilty. The median for fiscal year 2021 was close to that all-years median. Every guideline together covered 57,287 people in fiscal year 2021, with a median prison term of 29 months and 98% guilty pleas. The table gives each year for §2B3.3. | 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 Is Not in the Records The records do not describe the conduct in any case, so they cannot explain the spread in prison terms. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the post reports federal numbers only. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B3.3 (10), 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](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) - [§2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b3-3-blackmail-and-similar-forms-of-extortion/) (overview) - [§2B3.3 Blackmail and Similar Forms of Extortion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b3-3-blackmail-and-similar-forms-of-extortion-fy2020/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [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.