§2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
Fiscal year 2022 had 15 people sentenced under §2C1.2. 8 (53%) received prison terms, with a median of 8.5 months. A fine was ordered for 8 people (53%), more often than restitution (3 people, 20%).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity › §2C1.2: FY2022
In brief: Fiscal year 2022 had 15 people sentenced under §2C1.2. 8 (53%) received prison terms, with a median of 8.5 months. A fine was ordered for 8 people (53%), more often than restitution (3 people, 20%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 15 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Fines Were Ordered More Often Than Restitution
A fine was ordered for 8 of the 15 people sentenced under §2C1.2 in fiscal year 2022, which is 53%. Restitution was ordered for 3 people (20%).
The records do not show why one was ordered more often than the other.
Prison Terms and Supervised Release
In all, 8 people (53%) received a prison term, and 4 (27%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison and no other confinement.
The median prison term was 8.5 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less. In fiscal year 2021 the median had been 12 months, and in fiscal year 2023 it was 9 months.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 8 people (53%), with a median term of 12 months.
Plea Rate and the Single Trial
In all, 14 of the 15 people (93%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. After a guilty plea the median prison term was 8 months. The person convicted at trial and sent to prison received 21 months.
One trial case is not enough to compare plea and trial sentences. Each guilty plea (100%) had a written plea agreement, and no mandatory minimum applied to any of the 15 people with that information recorded.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
Below the range without a government request were 7 sentences (47%). Below the range at the government's request were 6 (40%). Within the range were 2 (13%), and none were above it.
The share within the range was lower than the 19% for all years of §2C1.2, and lower than the 42% for all guidelines in fiscal year 2022. In fiscal year 2023 the share within the range was 33%, which is higher.
Criminal History
Every person in the group (100%) was in the lowest criminal history category I and none were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Definitions and Counting Rules
The Guidelines Manual titles §2C1.2 "Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity". The Commission lists all 15 cases under Bribery/Corruption. A case counts when §2C1.2 was the primary guideline, which is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are missing.
The Wider Numbers
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 112 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of those, 46% went to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 96% pleaded guilty.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2022, 64,142 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The table shows each year for §2C1.2.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 24 | 16.5 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 13 | 15 months | 77% |
| 2018 | 10 | 14 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 7 | 12 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2020 | 8 | 8 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2021 | 13 | 12 months | 92% |
| 2022 | 15 | 8.5 months | 93% |
| 2023 | 12 | 9 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 9 | 24 months | 9 of 9 |
| 2025 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
What Remains Unknown
The records do not show the conduct in any case. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post stays with federal numbers.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2C1.2 (15), 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)
- §2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.