§2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
The median prison term under guideline §2E4.1 in fiscal year 2022 was 0.3 months, among the 6 of 12 people (50%) who were sent to prison. The other 6 (50%) received probation only. 11 of the 12 (92%) pleaded guilty.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes an › §2E4.1: FY2022
In brief: The median prison term under guideline §2E4.1 in fiscal year 2022 was 0.3 months, among the 6 of 12 people (50%) who were sent to prison. The other 6 (50%) received probation only. 11 of the 12 (92%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 12 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.
A Median Prison Term Below 1 Month
12 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 with §2E4.1 as the primary guideline. 6 of them (50%) received a prison term. The median prison term among the 6 was 0.3 months.
The terms were not all short. A quarter of those sent to prison received 9.2 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less. The median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline was 12 months, so the 2022 median was much lower.
Median prison term after a guilty plea was 0 months. After a trial it was 12 months, but that is based on 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Equal Numbers on Prison and Probation
6 people (50%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. For all years together, 48% were sent to prison, so the 2022 share was about the same.
6 people (50%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 12.
One Sentence Within the Range
In this data, the guideline range means the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. 1 of the 12 sentences (8%) was within it. 4 (33%) were below it at the government's request, and 7 (58%) were below it without a government request. 0 were above.
For all years under this guideline, 25% of sentences were within the range. For all federal cases in fiscal year 2022, the share was 42%. In fiscal year 2023, the next year, 0% of §2E4.1 sentences were within the range.
Guilty Pleas and Agreements
11 of the 12 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas.
Restitution, Fines, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 9 people (75%), and a fine for 2 (17%). Everyone in the group, 100%, was in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 0% were in category VI, the highest.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so there is no military figure to compare.
How 2022 Fits the Series
The Manual titles §2E4.1 "Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco." The Commission lists the cases as "Extortion/Racketeering." The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
The previous year, 2021, had 21 people, a median prison term of 24 months, and 19% within the range. The next year, 2023, had 11 people and a median of 31 months.
All federal cases in fiscal year 2022 total 64,142 people, with a median prison term of 30 months and 97% guilty pleas. The all-years total for §2E4.1 is 224 people. The table shows every 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
A median of 0.3 months from 6 people is easily moved by a few cases. The data does not explain it, and one year is not a trend.
Acquittals and dismissals are not in the records, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post gives federal numbers only.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E4.1 (12), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: 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
- 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.