§2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 19,463 people sentenced under §2D1.1 in fiscal year 2019. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 69% of those with that information recorded. The median prison term was 60 months (5 years), and 34% were sentenced within the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Traf › §2D1.1: FY2019
In brief: The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 19,463 people sentenced under §2D1.1 in fiscal year 2019. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 69% of those with that information recorded. The median prison term was 60 months (5 years), and 34% were sentenced within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 19,463 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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.
Fiscal Year 2019 at a Glance
In fiscal year 2019, 19,463 people were sentenced in federal court with §2D1.1 as the primary guideline. This is the guideline for drug manufacturing, importing, exporting, and trafficking, and the Commission files these cases under the Drug Trafficking offense type.
Of those people, 18,755 (96%) received a prison term and 516 (3%) 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.
29 people received a life sentence. That is a small count, and one year of it does not show a trend.
Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 13,386 of the 19,445 people with that information recorded (69%).
The percentage uses the 19,445 people with the information as its base. The records do not show which statute or drug supplied the minimum, and they do not show how many of these people received a sentence below it.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
For the 19,460 people with the information, 34% (6,574) received a sentence within the guideline range. Another 38% (7,388) were sentenced below the range at the government's request, and 27% (5,168) below the range without a government request. A sentence above the range applied to 2% (330).
The share within the range in fiscal year 2018 was 36%, and in fiscal year 2020 it was 32%. Those yearly figures are lower in each step, but a short run of years is too little to call a trend.
Pleas, Trials, and Prison Terms in Each Group
A guilty plea was entered by 18,985 people (98%), and 478 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 90% had a written plea agreement and 10% were straight pleas.
The median prison term was 60 months after a guilty plea. After a trial it was 168 months, based on 477 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. These figures describe different groups of cases and cannot show what a single case would have received under the other path.
Compared With Other Years and With All Guidelines
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2D1.1 "Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses); Attempt or Conspiracy".
Fiscal year 2018 had 18,404 people under this guideline and a median prison term of 60 months. Fiscal year 2020 had 15,965 people and the same median of 60 months. The count in fiscal year 2019 was higher than in either neighboring year. The table lists every year.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2D1.1 covered 181,468 people, with a median prison term of 60 months and 31% sentenced within the range. In fiscal year 2019, everyone sentenced under any guideline numbered 76,538, with a median prison term of 21 months and 51% within the range.
| 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 followed prison for 18,286 people (94%), with a median term of 48 months. 16 people (less than 1%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 1,080 (6%), and restitution for 319 (2%).
Criminal history is part of how the guideline range is set. Of the 19,463, 45% were in the lowest criminal history category (category I) and 14% in the highest (category VI).
What the Records Cannot Show
The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are missing. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not the time served. A federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.
The approved crosswalk pairs §2D1.1 with Article 112a of the UCMJ. The comparison posts cover that article, and this post stays with the federal numbers.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.1 (19,463), 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 2018 (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 2020 (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.