§2H1.1 Offenses Involving Individual Rights: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
Fiscal year 2019 was the smallest year among fiscal years 2016 to 2025 for §2H1.1, "Offenses Involving Individual Rights," with 26 people sentenced. Of the 26, 22 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 24.5 months (2 years). Guilty pleas were 88%, the highest share of any year
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2H1.1 Offenses Involving Individual Rights › §2H1.1: FY2019
In brief: Fiscal year 2019 was the smallest year among fiscal years 2016 to 2025 for §2H1.1, "Offenses Involving Individual Rights," with 26 people sentenced. Of the 26, 22 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 24.5 months (2 years). Guilty pleas were 88%, the highest share of any year in the table below.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 26 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 Small Group of 26 People
The Sentencing Commission recorded 26 people sentenced in federal court with §2H1.1 as the primary guideline in fiscal year 2019. That is a small count, and each person changes the percentages by a few points.
Of the 26, 22 (85%) were sent to prison, and 3 (12%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 24.5 months. A quarter received 55.5 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.
Pleas, Trials, and the Trial Median of 108 Months
A total of 23 of the 26 people (88%) pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 22 months.
After a trial, the median was 108 months. That figure is based on only 3 people convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it should not be treated as a typical result. Among guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement and 4% were straight pleas.
Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 26 people with that information recorded (4%).
Sentences within the guideline range were given to 27% (7 people). Another 38% (10) were below the range at the government's request, and 31% (8) were below it without a government request. One person (4%) was above the range.
After Prison and Financial Orders
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 22 people (85%), with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 7 people (27%), and restitution for 4 (15%).
How Fiscal Year 2019 Fits With the Rest
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined, 544 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of those, 79% went to prison, the median prison term was 27 months, 76% pleaded guilty, and 24% of sentences were within the range.
Across every guideline in fiscal year 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 21 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 51% of sentences were within the range.
The neighboring years were larger. Fiscal year 2018 had 45 people and a median of 27 months. Fiscal year 2020 had 50 people and a median of 36 months. The table lists every year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 46 | 30 months | 78% |
| 2017 | 54 | 24 months | 80% |
| 2018 | 45 | 27 months | 76% |
| 2019 | 26 | 24.5 months | 88% |
| 2020 | 50 | 36 months | 80% |
| 2021 | 30 | 37.5 months | 73% |
| 2022 | 63 | 33 months | 71% |
| 2023 | 69 | 36 months | 80% |
| 2024 | 97 | 24 months | 67% |
| 2025 | 64 | 21 months | 77% |
What the Records Leave Out
The Commission's files include only people who were convicted and sentenced, not acquittals or dismissals. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
In this year, 96% of these people were in criminal history category I, and 0% were in category VI. The approved crosswalk offers no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers only.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2H1.1 (26), 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)
- §2H1.1 Offenses Involving Individual Rights: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2H1.1 Offenses Involving Individual Rights: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2H1.1 Offenses Involving Individual Rights: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.