§2G3.1 Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
Federal courts sentenced 37 people under guideline §2G3.1 in fiscal year 2021. Of them, 35 (95%) went to prison, with a median prison term of 33 months, and 37 of 37 pleaded guilty. The count was higher than the 21 people sentenced under this guideline in fiscal year 2020.
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In brief: Federal courts sentenced 37 people under guideline §2G3.1 in fiscal year 2021. Of them, 35 (95%) went to prison, with a median prison term of 33 months, and 37 of 37 pleaded guilty. The count was higher than the 21 people sentenced under this guideline in fiscal year 2020.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 37 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
What Happened to the 37 People Sentenced
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 37 people in fiscal year 2021 whose primary guideline was §2G3.1, titled "Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter; Transferring Obscene Matter to a Minor; Misleading Domain Names." Fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
A prison term went to 35 of the 37 (95%). The other 2 (5%) received probation only. Among those who went to prison, the median prison term was 33 months, or 2.8 years.
A quarter of the people received 19.5 months or less, and a quarter received 47.5 months or more.
Plea Agreements and Straight Pleas
All 37 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 89% had a written plea agreement. The other 11% were straight pleas, which means a plea with no agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 37 people (3%). Mandatory minimums were rare among these sentences.
The Commission's data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. Anyone who was acquitted, or whose case was dismissed, does not appear.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
For 37 people, the Commission had the sentence position. Sentences within the guideline range numbered 14 (38%). Sentences above the range numbered 11 (30%).
Sentences below the range depended on whether the government asked for them. Without a government request, 9 (24%) were below the range. At the government's request, 3 (8%) were below the range.
Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2G3.1, 38% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2021 for every guideline, 43% were within the range.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 35 people (95%), and the median term was 36 months. Fines were ordered for 3 people (8%), and restitution was ordered for 3 (8%).
Criminal history was mixed. In the lowest category, Category I, there were 57% of the people, and 3% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Comparing Fiscal Year 2021 With Other Years
The median prison term of 33 months in fiscal year 2021 was higher than the 24 months in fiscal year 2020. It was lower than the 46 months in fiscal year 2022, when 33 people were sentenced and 24% of sentences were within the range.
All fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together include 284 people under §2G3.1. Of them, 89% went to prison, more than 99% pleaded guilty, and the median prison term was 28.9 months.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021, under every guideline, totaled 57,287 people. Their median prison term was 29 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. That group is much larger and covers every type of offense.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 25 | 26 months | 96% |
| 2017 | 26 | 25.5 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 22 | 27 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 25 | 25.5 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 21 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 37 | 33 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 33 | 46 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 41 | 26.5 months | 98% |
| 2024 | 26 | 46 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 28 | 27 months | 100% |
Limits of a Single Year
A count of 37 is small, and one year does not make a trend. The records cannot show whether the changes from year to year reflect different cases, different charging choices, or different sentencing decisions.
The Commission classifies these cases as Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2G3.1 (37), 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)
- §2G3.1 Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2G3.1 Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2G3.1 Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.