§2G1.3 Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 274 of the 418 people sentenced under §2G1.3 in fiscal year 2016 (66%). The median prison term was 120 months (10 years), and 14% received supervised release for life. 86% pleaded guilty.
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In brief: A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 274 of the 418 people sentenced under §2G1.3 in fiscal year 2016 (66%). The median prison term was 120 months (10 years), and 14% received supervised release for life. 86% pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 418 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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.
Mandatory Minimums in Fiscal Year 2016
A mandatory minimum is a prison term that a statute sets as a floor. In fiscal year 2016, one was recorded for 274 of the 418 people sentenced under §2G1.3 (66%). All 418 had that information.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts a person under §2G1.3 when it was the primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The Guidelines Manual titles it "Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor." The Commission's offense type for these cases is Sexual Abuse. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Length of Prison Terms
414 of the 418 people (more than 99%) were sent to prison. 2 (less than 1%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 4 people received a life sentence.
The median prison term was 120 months. A quarter received 180 months or more, and a quarter received 73.5 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not the time served. The median for all 67,742 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 was 24 months, a group that covers every offense type.
Supervised Release After Prison
411 people (98%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 114 months, and 57 people (14%) received supervised release for life.
A fine was ordered for 31 people (7%). Restitution, which is money ordered to compensate a victim, was ordered for 65 (16%).
Guilty Pleas and Trials
361 people (86%) pleaded guilty, and 57 were convicted after a trial. In federal court overall that year, 97% pleaded guilty. Trials were therefore more common under this guideline. 91% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 9% were straight pleas.
The median prison term was 120 months after a guilty plea and 210 months after a trial, based on 57 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. The data does not show the evidence or the plea offers in these cases, so it cannot explain the difference.
Against the Guideline Range
All 418 people had range information. 172 (41%) were sentenced within the range. 124 (30%) were below it at the government's request, and 100 (24%) were below it without a government request. 22 (5%) were above it.
For all federal cases in fiscal year 2016, 49% of sentences were within the range. Within-range sentences were less common under §2G1.3.
Criminal History and the Court-Martial Pairing
51% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 8% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
In the approved crosswalk, this guideline is paired with Article 120b of the UCMJ. The comparison posts on this site cover that pairing. This post reports federal numbers only.
Fiscal Year 2016 in the Longer Record
In fiscal year 2017, 403 people were sentenced under §2G1.3, the median prison term was 120 months, and 44% were within the range. For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined, 3,908 people were sentenced. More than 99% went to prison, the median prison term was 120 months, 88% pleaded guilty, and 46% were within the range.
The table lists each year. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not included, and no facts of individual cases appear.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 418 | 120 months | 86% |
| 2017 | 403 | 120 months | 90% |
| 2018 | 408 | 120 months | 89% |
| 2019 | 375 | 120 months | 88% |
| 2020 | 305 | 120 months | 88% |
| 2021 | 336 | 120 months | 88% |
| 2022 | 475 | 120 months | 86% |
| 2023 | 415 | 120 months | 84% |
| 2024 | 406 | 121 months | 86% |
| 2025 | 367 | 121 months | 91% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2G1.3 (418), 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)
- §2G1.3 Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2G1.3 Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- Fewer or More? Child Sexual Abuse Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120b Conviction in the Army? (court-martial data)
- How Often Are Contested Army Article 120b Cases Acquitted? (court-martial data)
- Pleading Guilty to Article 120b in the Army: What Sentences Followed? (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 120b Changed in Air Force Courts-Martial Since 2016? (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120b Conviction in the Air Force? (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Air Force Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Fewer or More? Child Sexual Abuse Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Article 120b (Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 120b UCMJ: Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child (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.