§2G3.1 Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
In fiscal year 2023, 41 people were sentenced under guideline §2G3.1, and 40 of them (98%) pleaded guilty. One person was convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 26.5 months, and 36 people (88%) were sentenced to prison.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2023, 41 people were sentenced under guideline §2G3.1, and 40 of them (98%) pleaded guilty. One person was convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 26.5 months, and 36 people (88%) were sentenced to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 41 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
One Trial Conviction Among 41 Sentenced People
In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded one conviction after a trial under §2G3.1. Of the 41 people, 40 (98%) pleaded guilty. The remaining person was convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 26 months. After a trial, it was 37 months. The trial figure rests on 1 person, so it is a single sentence and not a median that describes a group.
Among the guilty pleas, 88% had a written plea agreement, and 13% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Prison Terms in Fiscal Year 2023
Of the 41 people, 36 (88%) received a prison term, and 5 (12%) received probation only. The median prison term among those sent to prison was 26.5 months, or 2.2 years.
The spread was wide. A quarter of the people sent to prison received 60 months or more, and a quarter received 18 months or less.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 41 people (2%). The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
The Commission had the sentence position for all 41 people. Within the guideline range were 18 sentences (44%), and above the range were 13 (32%).
Below the range were 10 sentences. Of these, 4 (10%) were at the government's request and 6 (15%) were without a government request.
The 44% within the range is higher than the 38% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline. It is also higher than the 42% for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release followed prison for 36 people (88%), with a median term of 36 months. One person (2%) received supervised release for life.
A fine was ordered for 9 people (22%), and restitution was ordered for 1 (2%).
In criminal history, 78% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Guideline Title and Offense Type
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2G3.1 "Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter; Transferring Obscene Matter to a Minor; Misleading Domain Names." The Commission classifies the 41 cases as Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses.
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
Fiscal Year 2023 Among the Other Years
The 41 people in fiscal year 2023 were the largest yearly count in the table below. In fiscal year 2022, the Commission counted 33 people and a median prison term of 46 months. In fiscal year 2024, it counted 26 people and a median prison term of 46 months.
The median of 26.5 months in fiscal year 2023 was lower than both neighboring years and lower than the 28.9 months for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, under every guideline, totaled 64,124 people, with a median prison term of 30 months.
| 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 on What the Data Shows
The records do not show why one year differs from another or what any single case involved. Counts this small can move with only a few cases.
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 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2G3.1 (41), 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2G3.1 Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.