§2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
All 31 people sentenced in fiscal year 2021 with §2E1.1 as the primary guideline pleaded guilty. 30 of them (97%) received a prison term, with a median of 24 months. 42% were sentenced within the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and › §2E1.1: FY2021
In brief: All 31 people sentenced in fiscal year 2021 with §2E1.1 as the primary guideline pleaded guilty. 30 of them (97%) received a prison term, with a median of 24 months. 42% were sentenced within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 31 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
Every Person Sentenced Pleaded Guilty
In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 31 people whose primary guideline was §2E1.1. The guideline is titled "Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations" in the Guidelines Manual. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
All 31 (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 87% had a written plea agreement and 13% were straight pleas with no agreement. Because no one in this group went to trial, the records give no trial sentence to compare with the plea sentences.
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data.
How Long the Prison Terms Were
30 of the 31 people (97%) received a prison term. One person (3%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 24 months (2 years). A quarter received 31.5 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not the time actually served.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 31 people (3%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 30 (97%), and the median supervised release term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 2 people (6%), and restitution for 1 (3%).
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
The Commission recorded this information for all 31 people. 42% (13 people) were sentenced within the guideline range. 19% (6) were sentenced below the range at the government's request. 39% (12) were sentenced below the range without a government request. None were sentenced above the range.
The share below the range without a government request was larger than the share below it at the government's request. The data does not say what led a court to sentence below the range in any case.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 56 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 68 | 24 months | 90% |
| 2018 | 142 | 28 months | 97% |
| 2019 | 62 | 33 months | 97% |
| 2020 | 25 | 30 months | 84% |
| 2021 | 31 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 48 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 47 | 24 months | 89% |
| 2024 | 22 | 24 months | 95% |
| 2025 | 10 | 25.5 months | 90% |
Criminal History Categories
42% of the 31 people were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 13% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no military counterpart.
Comparison With Other Years and With All Federal Cases
From fiscal year 2016 to 2025, 511 people were sentenced under §2E1.1. 90% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 27 months, 95% pleaded guilty, and 39% were sentenced within the range. The fiscal year 2021 median of 24 months was lower than the all-years median, and the share within the range, 42%, was higher.
The year before, fiscal year 2020, had 25 people under this guideline, a median prison term of 30 months, and 36% within the range. The year after, fiscal year 2022, had 48 people, a median prison term of 24 months, and 33% within the range.
For all guidelines combined, 57,287 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. Their median prison term was 29 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 43% were sentenced within the range. The Commission classed the 31 cases here under the offense type Extortion/Racketeering.
Limits of This Count
Federal fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. A group of 31 is small, and one year does not show a trend. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
The records do not describe the conduct in any case, and they cannot show why sentences were set as they were.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E1.1 (31), 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)
- §2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- 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.