§2J1.3 Perjury or Subornation of Perjury: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 20 people were sentenced in federal court with guideline §2J1.3 as the primary guideline, and 16 of them (80%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 11 months. 19 of the 20 (95%) pleaded guilty, and every one of those pleas had a written plea agreement.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 20 people were sentenced in federal court with guideline §2J1.3 as the primary guideline, and 16 of them (80%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 11 months. 19 of the 20 (95%) pleaded guilty, and every one of those pleas had a written plea agreement.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 20 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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.
80% Were Sentenced to Prison
16 of the 20 people (80%) received a prison term, and 2 (10%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The share sent to prison was higher than the 60% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline.
The median prison term was 11 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 24.8 months or more, and a quarter received 5 months or less. The median for all years together was 12 months, so the 2020 median was a little lower.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts these cases under the guideline that the Manual titles "Perjury or Subornation of Perjury; Bribery of Witness."
Plea Agreements in Every Guilty Plea
19 of the 20 people (95%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement, and 0% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 10 months. After a trial it was 24 months, but that is based on 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison. One case cannot be compared with the 19 pleas.
The Guideline Range and the Mandatory Minimum
The guideline range is the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. 9 of the 20 sentences (45%) were within the range. 3 (15%) were below it at the government's request, and 7 (35%) were below it without a government request. 1 (5%) was above the range.
A mandatory minimum prison term, one set by statute, applied to 1 of the 20 people (5%). 15 people (75%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 2 people (10%), and restitution for 3 (15%). 70% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 0% were in the highest category VI.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so the military records have no matching figure.
How 2020 Compares With the Years Around It
Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. In fiscal year 2019, 21 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 10 months, and 48% were within the range. In fiscal year 2021, 18 people were sentenced, the median was 12 months, and 33% were within the range.
For all federal cases in fiscal year 2020, under every guideline, the count was 64,565 people. Their median prison term was 18 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 50% were within the range. The §2J1.3 group had a lower median prison term and a lower plea rate. The table lists every year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 40 | 8 months | 90% |
| 2017 | 36 | 12 months | 92% |
| 2018 | 29 | 12 months | 93% |
| 2019 | 21 | 10 months | 86% |
| 2020 | 20 | 11 months | 95% |
| 2021 | 18 | 12 months | 94% |
| 2022 | 13 | 15 months | 92% |
| 2023 | 15 | 14 months | 93% |
| 2024 | 20 | 7.1 months | 90% |
| 2025 | 13 | 4 months | 92% |
What the Records Cannot Answer
The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The cases are grouped under the offense type "Administration of Justice."
A group of 20 is small, and a single year is not a trend. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports the federal figures on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.3 (20), 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)
- §2J1.3 Perjury or Subornation of Perjury: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2J1.3 Perjury or Subornation of Perjury: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2J1.3 Perjury or Subornation of Perjury: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.