> ## 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. # §2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2c1-2-offering-giving-soliciting-or-receiving-a-gratuity/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:40:05.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:40:05.000Z - Description: Federal courts sentenced 112 people under §2C1.2, the guideline for offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving a gratuity, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Prison was ordered for 52 (46%), with a median prison term of 12 months. Among guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › §2C1.2 **In brief:** Federal courts sentenced 112 people under §2C1.2, the guideline for offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving a gratuity, in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Prison was ordered for 52 (46%), with a median prison term of 12 months. Among guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement. Updated November 2, 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 112 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 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 Guideline Named for Gratuities The title of §2C1.2 is "Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity." The title covers both sides of such an exchange: the person who offers or gives, and the person who solicits or receives. The Sentencing Commission counted 112 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary guideline was §2C1.2, and it files them under Bribery/Corruption. ## Plea Agreements Were Universal Among guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement and 0% were straight pleas. Of the 112 people, 107 (96%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was 21 months, based on 5 people sent to prison. The 107 guilty pleas make up nearly the whole group, so the plea figures describe most of the 112 cases. A median is the middle value when the prison terms are put in order. Here the middle prison term was 12 months, for pleas and for the whole group alike. ## The Sentences Of the 112 people, 52 (46%) were sent to prison and 38 (34%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 8 months or less. No mandatory minimum prison term applied: 0 (0%). ## Money Penalties and Supervised Release A fine was ordered for 48 people (43%), and restitution for 40 (36%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 50 people (45%). The median supervised release term was 12 months. ## Few Sentences Were Within the Range Only 21 sentences (19%) were within the guideline range. The court sentenced below the range at the government's request for 52 people (46%) and below it without a government request for 39 (35%). No sentence was above the range: 0 (0%). Criminal history was low across the group. More than 99% were in the lowest category I, and 0% were in the highest (VI). Criminal history is a rating of a person's earlier record. The Commission's data places almost everyone in this group in category I, the lowest. ## Changes Across the Years Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 54 people and a median prison term of 15 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 58 people and a median of 12 months. The table shows the count falling over time: 24 people in 2016 and 1 in 2025\. With a single person in 2025, no median could be reported. The records do not explain the change in volume. | 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 the Records Leave Out The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced, and it reports prison terms as imposed. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. Court-martial records also have no criminal history field. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2C1.2 (112), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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) - [§2C1.1 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Bribe: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2c1-1-offering-giving-soliciting-or-receiving-a-bribe/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2C1.8 Making, Receiving, or Failing to Report a Contribution, Donation, or Expenditure in Violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2c1-8-making-receiving-or-failing-to-report-a/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2C1.3 Conflict of Interest: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2c1-3-conflict-of-interest/) (same guideline chapter part) - [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.