> ## 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. # §2D1.2 Drug Offenses Occurring Near Protected Locations or Involving Underage or Pregnant Individuals: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-2-drug-offenses-occurring-near-protected-locations-or-fy2020/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:24:02.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:24:02.000Z - Description: A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 295 of the 297 people with that information recorded (more than 99%) in the §2D1.2 cases sentenced in fiscal year 2020. The median prison term was 66.5 months, which is 5.5 years. Of the 297 people, 98% pleaded guilty. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2D1.2 Drug Offenses Occurring Near Protected Locations or I](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-2-drug-offenses-occurring-near-protected-locations-or/) › §2D1.2: FY2020 **In brief:** A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 295 of the 297 people with that information recorded (more than 99%) in the §2D1.2 cases sentenced in fiscal year 2020\. The median prison term was 66.5 months, which is 5.5 years. Of the 297 people, 98% pleaded guilty. Updated November 4, 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 297 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020\. 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/). ## Mandatory Minimums Applied Almost Everywhere In fiscal year 2020, the Sentencing Commission recorded 297 people sentenced under §2D1.2 as the primary guideline. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 295 of them. A mandatory minimum is a prison term set by statute as a floor. The records do not show how often the minimum determined the final term. ## Prison Terms and Probation Prison was imposed on 296 of the 297 people (more than 99%). Nobody received probation only. The median prison term was 66.5 months. A quarter received 90 months or more, and a quarter received 41 months or less. The yearly table shows 66.5 months as the lowest median among the years 2016 to 2025. Supervised release was ordered for 296 people (more than 99%), with a median term of 72 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (1%), and restitution for 5 (2%). ## Guilty Pleas and Trials Of the 297 people, 292 (98%) pleaded guilty and 5 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 66 months after a guilty plea and 264 months after a trial. The trial median is based on 5 people. It should be read as a description of those cases only. A written plea agreement was part of 98% of the guilty pleas, and 2% were straight pleas with no agreement. ## Sentences Against the Guideline Range A sentence within the guideline range was imposed for 56% (167). It was below the range at the government's request for 25% (75), and below the range with no such request for 14% (42). It was above the range for 4% (13). The previous year had 52% within the range, and the next year had 55%. The all-years figure for §2D1.2 is 53%, and the figure for all federal cases in fiscal year 2020 is 50%. ## Defining the Group and the Year The Guidelines Manual gives §2D1.2 the title "Drug Offenses Occurring Near Protected Locations or Involving Underage or Pregnant Individuals; Attempt or Conspiracy". All 297 cases fall under the Commission's Drug Trafficking offense type. Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020\. All federal cases that year totaled 64,565 people, with a median prison term of 18 months. Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 48% of people, and category VI, the highest, to 8%. The table lists all years from 2016 to 2025. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 328 | 70 months | 97% | | 2017 | 287 | 70 months | 97% | | 2018 | 218 | 70 months | 97% | | 2019 | 281 | 70 months | 95% | | 2020 | 297 | 66.5 months | 98% | | 2021 | 252 | 75.4 months | 99% | | 2022 | 208 | 70.2 months | more than 99% | | 2023 | 276 | 84 months | 98% | | 2024 | 229 | 78 months | 97% | | 2025 | 177 | 72 months | 100% | ## What Is Not in These Records The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Dismissals and acquittals are not counted, and prison terms are those imposed rather than served. No close court-martial counterpart exists for this guideline in the crosswalk, so this post reports federal numbers on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.2 (297), 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](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) - [§2D1.2 Drug Offenses Occurring Near Protected Locations or Involving Underage or Pregnant Individuals: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-2-drug-offenses-occurring-near-protected-locations-or/) (overview) - [§2D1.2 Drug Offenses Occurring Near Protected Locations or Involving Underage or Pregnant Individuals: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-2-drug-offenses-occurring-near-protected-locations-or-fy2019/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2D1.2 Drug Offenses Occurring Near Protected Locations or Involving Underage or Pregnant Individuals: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-2-drug-offenses-occurring-near-protected-locations-or-fy2021/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [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.