§2G2.6 Child Exploitation Enterprises: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 18 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2G2.6, "Child Exploitation Enterprises." All 18 pleaded guilty, all 18 were sent to prison, and a mandatory minimum applied to all 18. The median prison term was 370.5 months, which is 30.9 years.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 18 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2G2.6, "Child Exploitation Enterprises." All 18 pleaded guilty, all 18 were sent to prison, and a mandatory minimum applied to all 18. The median prison term was 370.5 months, which is 30.9 years.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 18 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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 370.5-Month Median for 18 People
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 18 people in fiscal year 2019 whose primary guideline was §2G2.6. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The Commission files these cases under the offense type Sexual Abuse.
18 of the 18 (100%) were sentenced to prison. The median prison term was 370.5 months. A quarter received 442.5 months or more, and a quarter received 333 months or less.
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 62 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 360 months. Fiscal year 2019 is the largest single-year group in the yearly table.
Mandatory Minimums Applied to Everyone
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 18 of the 18 people with that information recorded (100%). That is the same as the all-years pattern of 100% sent to prison under this guideline.
A mandatory minimum sets a floor that a court generally cannot go below. Even so, most of the 18 sentences were below the guideline range, as the next section shows. The records do not explain how those facts fit together in each case.
Few Sentences Were Within the Range
2 sentences (11%) were within the guideline range. 10 (56%) were below the range at the government's request, and 6 (33%) were below it without a government request. None were above the range.
The within-range share was lower than the 16% for all years under this guideline. It was also lower than the 51% for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019.
Guilty Pleas and Plea Agreements
18 of the 18 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. 94% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 6% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The all-years guilty plea rate under this guideline is 90%. The rate for all guidelines in fiscal year 2019 was 98%.
Supervised Release, Restitution, and Criminal History
All 18 people were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 60 months, and 5 people (28%) received supervised release for life.
Restitution was ordered for 17 people (94%). No fine was ordered. 89% were in the lowest criminal history category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI.
Fiscal Year 2019 Among Other Years and All Guidelines
The table gives the count, median prison term, and plea rate for each year. Groups range from 1 person to 18 people, and the medians range from 144 months to 470 months. Small groups, such as the 1 person in fiscal year 2022, make a year's median unstable.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 21 months. Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | 356 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2017 | 9 | 240 months | 8 of 9 |
| 2018 | 9 | 408 months | 8 of 9 |
| 2019 | 18 | 370.5 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 5 | 264 months | 4 of 5 |
| 2021 | 2 | 282 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 1 | 470 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2023 | 11 | 144 months | 91% |
| 2024 | 3 | 470 months | 2 of 3 |
Limits of These Records
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. It describes groups of sentences, not individual cases, and prison terms are the terms imposed rather than time served.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2G2.6 (18), 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)
- §2G2.6 Child Exploitation Enterprises: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- 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.