§2G1.3 Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 305 people were sentenced in federal court under §2G1.3 as the primary guideline, the fewest in any year from 2016 to 2025 in the sheet's table. 304 (more than 99%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 120 months (10 years). 50% were sentenced within the guidel
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2G1.3 Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual C › §2G1.3: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 305 people were sentenced in federal court under §2G1.3 as the primary guideline, the fewest in any year from 2016 to 2025 in the sheet's table. 304 (more than 99%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 120 months (10 years). 50% were sentenced within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 305 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 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 Small Year for This Guideline
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 305 people sentenced under §2G1.3 in fiscal year 2020. That is the lowest count in the yearly table below, which runs from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025.
The year is one data point and not a trend. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020, and the records do not show why the count was smaller than in the years on either side.
The previous year, fiscal year 2019, had 375 people. The next year, fiscal year 2021, had 336 people.
| 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% |
Prison Terms and Supervised Release
Of the 305 people, 304 (more than 99%) received a prison term, and 1 (less than 1%) received probation only. The median prison term was 120 months. A quarter received 156 months or more, and a quarter received 72 months or less. 4 people received a life sentence.
After prison, 304 people (more than 99%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 120 months, and 46 people (15%) received supervised release for life.
The prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
A total of 268 of the 305 people (88%) pleaded guilty. The other 37 were convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 120 months. After a trial it was 192 months, based on 37 people. Among the guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement, and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement.
With only 37 trial convictions, the trial median describes a small group.
Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 204 of the 305 people with that information recorded (67%).
Sentences within the guideline range numbered 153, or 50%. A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 24% (72), and below the range without a government request to 20% (62). 6% (18) were above the range. In the previous year the within-range share was 46%, and in the next year it was 44%.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 10 people (3%), and restitution for 58 (19%).
In criminal history, 62% were in the lowest category (category I), and 3% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no such field.
Measured Against All Years and All Guidelines
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 3,908 people were sentenced under §2G1.3. More than 99% went to prison, the median prison term was 120 months, 88% pleaded guilty, and 46% were within the guideline range.
In fiscal year 2020, all guidelines combined covered 64,565 people. Their median prison term was 18 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 50% were within the range. The share within the range under §2G1.3 was the same as that all-guidelines share.
Scope and Limits of These Numbers
The Commission files this post relies on include only people who were convicted and sentenced. The offense type for all 305 cases is Sexual Abuse.
The guideline is paired with Article 120b of the UCMJ in the comparison posts on this site. The records here cannot show the facts of a case or what caused any change from one year to the next.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2G1.3 (305), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2G1.3 Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.