§2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
In fiscal year 2017, 235 of the 238 people sentenced in federal court under §2B5.1, "Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States," pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 15 months. The 3 people convicted at trial had a median of 4 months, a figure too small to generali
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of › §2B5.1: FY2017
In brief: In fiscal year 2017, 235 of the 238 people sentenced in federal court under §2B5.1, "Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States," pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 15 months. The 3 people convicted at trial had a median of 4 months, a figure too small to generalize.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 238 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
A 4-Month Median After 3 Trial Convictions
In fiscal year 2017, 99% of the 238 people pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 15 months. After a trial it was 4 months.
The trial figure is based on 3 people. With a group that small, one case can set the median, so the number says little about trials in general. Among the guilty pleas, 83% had a written plea agreement and 17% were straight pleas.
Prison and Probation Outcomes
Prison was the sentence for 210 of the 238 people, or 88%. 16 people (7%) were given probation only and served no prison or other confinement. Mandatory minimums were rare: 5 of the 238 people (2%) had one.
The median prison term for the 210 was 15 months. The longest quarter of terms began at 24 months, and the shortest quarter ended at 7.3 months. Courts imposed these terms. They are not the time served.
Relation to the Guideline Range
Range information was recorded for all 238 people. 55% (131) were sentenced within the range. 29% (68) were below it without a government request, and 14% (34) were below it at the government's request. 2% (5) were above it.
The share within the range was 58% in fiscal year 2016 and 59% in fiscal year 2018. Across every guideline in 2017, it was 49%.
Restitution, Fines, and Supervised Release
Restitution was ordered for 133 people (56%), and a fine for 12 (5%). 208 people (87%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months.
Criminal History Categories
30% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 16% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Who Is in the Count and How 2017 Compares
For this series, a person belongs to the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count, called the primary guideline. The fiscal year began on October 1, 2016 and ended on September 30, 2017. All 238 cases fall in the Commission's Forgery/Counter/Copyright category. Acquitted and dismissed defendants are outside the data.
The 2016 group had 280 people and a median of 18 months. The 2018 group had 228 people and a median of 18 months. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,486 people were sentenced, 84% went to prison, and 99% pleaded guilty. The table gives every year.
All guidelines together in 2017 covered 66,873 people with a median prison term of 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 280 | 18 months | 97% |
| 2017 | 238 | 15 months | 99% |
| 2018 | 228 | 18 months | more than 99% |
| 2019 | 229 | 15 months | more than 99% |
| 2020 | 160 | 18 months | 99% |
| 2021 | 98 | 15 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 86 | 19.5 months | 99% |
| 2023 | 67 | 20 months | 99% |
| 2024 | 60 | 18 months | 97% |
| 2025 | 40 | 22.5 months | 98% |
What Cannot Be Drawn From These Records
The records do not show the facts of any case or why a term was chosen. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.1 (238), 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)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.