§2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
Fiscal year 2022 had 19,612 people sentenced under §2D1.1, the highest yearly count in the table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 60 months (5 years). Of the people with the information, 27% were sentenced within the guideline range, and 45% were sentenced below it at the go
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D1.1 Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Traf › §2D1.1: FY2022
In brief: Fiscal year 2022 had 19,612 people sentenced under §2D1.1, the highest yearly count in the table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 60 months (5 years). Of the people with the information, 27% were sentenced within the guideline range, and 45% were sentenced below it at the government's request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 19,612 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.
The Largest Yearly Count Under §2D1.1
The Commission counted 19,612 people sentenced in fiscal year 2022 with §2D1.1 as the primary guideline. No other year from 2016 to 2025 has a higher count in the table. Fiscal year 2021 had 17,241 people and fiscal year 2023 had 18,640.
Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The records give the count and not the reason for it.
A prison term went to 18,948 people (97%), and 544 (3%) received probation only. The median prison term was 60 months (5 years).
Reading the Guideline Range Numbers
For the 19,603 people with the information, a sentence below the range at the government's request applied to 45% (8,841). A sentence within the range applied to 27% (5,337), and below the range without a government request to 26% (5,129). A sentence above the range applied to 2% (296).
The share within the range was 28% in fiscal year 2021 and 26% in fiscal year 2023. Fiscal year 2022 was about the same as both neighbors.
Before any sentence, the court calculates a guideline range from the offense level and criminal history. In this year, 41% of people were in the lowest criminal history category (category I) and 15% in the highest (category VI).
Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements
Of the 19,612 people, 19,199 (98%) pleaded guilty and 413 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 93% had a written plea agreement and 7% were straight pleas.
After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 60 months. After a trial it was 170 months, based on 407 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. These groups differ in ways the data does not describe, so the gap cannot be used to estimate the effect of a trial on any one sentence.
Prison Terms at the High End, and Life Sentences
A quarter of the people sent to prison received 120 months or more, and a quarter received 30.8 months or less. 13 people received a life sentence, a small count.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 13,198 of the 19,605 people with that information recorded (67%).
Comparison With All Years and 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". The Commission calls the offense type Drug Trafficking.
From fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025, §2D1.1 covered 181,468 people, 96% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 60 months, and 31% were within the range. In fiscal year 2022, all guidelines together covered 64,142 people, with a median prison term of 30 months, 97% guilty pleas, and 42% within the range.
The table shows the yearly figures for §2D1.1 only.
| 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 18,679 people (95%), with a median term of 48 months. 10 people (less than 1%) received it for life. A fine was ordered for 1,130 (6%) and restitution for 270 (1%).
What Is Not in the Data
The Commission counts people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
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 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.1 (19,612), 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 2021 (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 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
- 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.