§2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
Among the 18,404 people sentenced under §2D1.1 in fiscal year 2018, the median prison term was 170 months for the 467 convicted after a trial and 60 months for those who pleaded guilty. A mandatory minimum applied to 61% of people with that information recorded. Overall, 97% pleaded guilty and 96% r
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Traf › §2D1.1: FY2018
In brief: Among the 18,404 people sentenced under §2D1.1 in fiscal year 2018, the median prison term was 170 months for the 467 convicted after a trial and 60 months for those who pleaded guilty. A mandatory minimum applied to 61% of people with that information recorded. Overall, 97% pleaded guilty and 96% received a prison term.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 18,404 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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.
Trial Convictions and Guilty Pleas in Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 17,937 of 18,404 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 467 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 60 months after a guilty plea and 170 months after a trial, based on 467 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among the guilty pleas, 90% had a written plea agreement and 10% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The difference in medians compares groups of cases. It does not isolate the effect of the choice to go to trial, because the cases in each group may differ in drug amounts, mandatory minimums, and criminal history.
How Often a Mandatory Minimum Applied
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 11,215 of the 18,386 people with that information recorded (61%).
A mandatory minimum sets a lowest sentence that applies by statute in many cases. The data file records whether one applied. It does not say which drug or statute supplied it, and the percentage is out of the 18,386 people with the information, not all 18,404.
Overall Prison Terms
A prison term went to 17,733 people (96%), and 451 (2%) received probation only. The median prison term was 60 months (5 years). A quarter received 120 months or more, and a quarter received 30 months or less.
42 people received a life sentence. That count is small and should not be read as a trend.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
The Commission records the sentence position for 18,398 people. Within the guideline range: 36% (6,622). Below the range at the government's request: 38% (7,059). Below the range without a government request: 24% (4,435). Above the range: 2% (282).
The share within the range was 35% in fiscal year 2017 and 34% in fiscal year 2019, so fiscal year 2018 was about the same as both neighbors.
The Guideline and Its Place Among All Federal Cases
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2D1.1 "Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses); Attempt or Conspiracy". The Commission's offense type for these cases is Drug Trafficking.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2D1.1 covered 181,468 people. The median prison term for the full period was 60 months, and 31% were sentenced within the guideline range. In fiscal year 2018, all guidelines together covered 69,425 people, with a median prison term of 24 months, 97% guilty pleas, and 51% sentenced within the range.
The table shows the yearly counts, medians, and plea rates for §2D1.1. A federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 19,199 | 55 months | 98% |
| 2017 | 19,223 | 60 months | 98% |
| 2018 | 18,404 | 60 months | 97% |
| 2019 | 19,463 | 60 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 15,965 | 60 months | 98% |
| 2021 | 17,241 | 60 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 19,612 | 60 months | 98% |
| 2023 | 18,640 | 65 months | 98% |
| 2024 | 17,771 | 70 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 15,950 | 72 months | 98% |
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release was ordered for 17,310 people (94%), with a median term of 48 months. 9 people (less than 1%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 955 (5%), and restitution for 321 (2%).
What the Data Leaves Out
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the Commission's files, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
The §2D1.1 guideline is paired with Article 112a of the UCMJ in the approved crosswalk. The comparison posts handle that article, and this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.1 (18,404), 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)
- §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- Army Article 112a Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows an Army Drug Conviction? (court-martial data)
- How Often Are Contested Army Article 112a Cases Acquitted? (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Army Drug Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Are Air Force Drug Courts-Martial Disappearing? Article 112a, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Air Force? (court-martial data)
- Pleading Guilty to Article 112a in the Air Force: What Sentences Followed? (court-martial data)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Drug Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 112a, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps? (court-martial data)
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Drug Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Drug (court-martial data)
- Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 112a UCMJ Drug Offenses and Positive Urinalysis (law firm reference page)
- 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.