§2H1.1 Offenses Involving Individual Rights: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
In fiscal year 2025, 64 people were sentenced under §2H1.1, "Offenses Involving Individual Rights." The median prison term was 21 months, the lowest in the table of years from 2016 to 2025. Of the 64, 53 (83%) were sent to prison, and 1 received a life sentence.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2025, 64 people were sentenced under §2H1.1, "Offenses Involving Individual Rights." The median prison term was 21 months, the lowest in the table of years from 2016 to 2025. Of the 64, 53 (83%) were sent to prison, and 1 received a life sentence.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 64 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025. 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.
The Lowest Median in the Table
The median prison term in fiscal year 2025 was 21 months. In the years before it, the median was 24 months in 2024 and 36 months in 2023. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, the median was 27 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 74 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. One person received a life sentence. These are terms imposed, not time served.
Who Went to Prison
Of the 64 people, 53 (83%) received a prison term, and 7 (11%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
After prison, 53 people (83%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 24 months, and 2 people (3%) received supervised release for life. A fine was ordered for 11 people (17%), and restitution for 20 (31%).
Plea Rates and Trial Rates
A total of 49 of the 64 people (77%) pleaded guilty, and 15 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 18 months. After a trial it was 46.5 months, based on 14 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among the guilty pleas, 98% had a written plea agreement, and 2% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Guideline Range and Mandatory Minimums
The guideline range is the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. In fiscal year 2025, 25% of sentences (16 people) were within it. Sentences below the range without a government request were 38% (24), and those below it at the government's request were 36% (23). One person (2%) was above the range.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 3 of the 64 people with that information recorded (5%).
Compared With the Whole Federal System
For every guideline in fiscal year 2025, 66,662 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 24 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 51% of sentences were within the range. Under §2H1.1, the median was lower than that all-guideline median, guilty pleas were less common, and sentences within the range were less common.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 544 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 79% went to prison. In fiscal year 2024, 97 people were sentenced. The table lists each 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% |
Limits of the Records
The Sentencing Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.
In this year, 92% of these people were in criminal history category I, and 0% were in category VI. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. One year of data cannot show whether the lower median will continue.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2H1.1 (64), 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 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.