§2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
All 29 people sentenced under guideline §2E4.1 in fiscal year 2017 pleaded guilty (100%). 21 of them (72%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. Restitution was ordered for 22 (76%).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes an › §2E4.1: FY2017
In brief: All 29 people sentenced under guideline §2E4.1 in fiscal year 2017 pleaded guilty (100%). 21 of them (72%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. Restitution was ordered for 22 (76%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 29 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
No Trials Among the 29 People
In fiscal year 2017, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 29 people sentenced in federal court with §2E4.1 as the primary guideline. All 29 pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial.
Among the guilty pleas, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement. Since there were no trial convictions, the data has no trial sentences for comparison.
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, guilty pleas were more than 99%. For all federal cases in fiscal year 2017, under every guideline, the rate was 97%.
Prison Terms and Probation
The Manual titles §2E4.1 "Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco." 21 of the 29 people (72%) received a prison term, and 6 (21%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 6.8 months or less. The median was the same as for all years under this guideline, and the prison rate was higher than the 48% for all years.
21 people (72%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 29.
Restitution Was Common
Restitution is payment ordered to make up for a loss. It was ordered for 22 of the 29 people (76%). A fine was ordered for 2 (7%).
The records for this post do not show what losses were involved, so the restitution count says nothing about amounts.
Against the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. 8 of the 29 sentences (28%) were within it. 10 (34%) were below it at the government's request, and 11 (38%) were below it without a government request. 0 were above the range.
The 28% within the range was a little higher than the 25% for all years under this guideline. It was lower than the 49% for all federal cases in fiscal year 2017.
Criminal History and Offense Type
79% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 0% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Commission places these cases in its "Extortion/Racketeering" offense type.
The Years Before and After 2017
Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. In fiscal year 2016, 28 people were sentenced under §2E4.1, the median prison term was 8 months, and 18% were within the range. In fiscal year 2018, 45 people were sentenced, the median was 13.5 months, and 42% were within the range.
Across all years, 224 people were sentenced under this guideline. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 totals 66,873 people, with a median prison term of 24 months. The table lists each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 28 | 8 months | 96% |
| 2017 | 29 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 45 | 13.5 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 25 | 2 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 28 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 21 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 12 | 0.3 months | 92% |
| 2023 | 11 | 31 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 22 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 months | 3 of 3 |
Limits
The data counts people who were convicted and sentenced. Anyone acquitted or whose case was dismissed is absent, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
A group of 29 is small. One year of figures is not a trend, and the approved crosswalk offers no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E4.1 (29), 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.
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)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.