§2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 12 of the 13 people sentenced under §2J1.4 (92%) received a sentence within the guideline range. In all, 5 people (38%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 4 months, and 6 (46%) received probation only.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2J1.4 Impersonation › §2J1.4: FY2019
In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 12 of the 13 people sentenced under §2J1.4 (92%) received a sentence within the guideline range. In all, 5 people (38%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 4 months, and 6 (46%) received probation only.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 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.
Sentences Within the Range for 12 of 13
In fiscal year 2019, 12 of the 13 sentences under §2J1.4 (92%) were within the guideline range. One (8%) was above the range. None were below the range.
In fiscal year 2018 the within-range share under this guideline was 71%, and in fiscal year 2020 it was 77%. Across all years of §2J1.4 it was 79%, and across all guidelines in fiscal year 2019 it was 51%.
A Short Median Prison Term
In all, 5 of the 13 people (38%) received a prison term. Probation only, meaning no prison and no other confinement, went to 6 people (46%).
The median prison term was 4 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 1.5 months or less. With 5 people, the top and bottom of that range reflect individual sentences.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 4 people (31%), with a median term of 12 months.
Guilty Pleas and One Trial
In all, 12 of the 13 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12.5 months. The person convicted at trial and sent to prison received 1.5 months.
The trial figure rests on 1 person and shows nothing general. Among the guilty pleas, 67% had a written plea agreement and 33% were straight pleas with no agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 13 people with that information recorded.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 3 people (23%), and restitution for 1 (8%).
In the lowest criminal history category I were 54% of the group, and 8% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
What the Guideline Covers and What Was Counted
The Guidelines Manual titles §2J1.4 "Impersonation". The U.S. Sentencing Commission lists these 13 cases under Administration of Justice. A case counts when §2J1.4 was the primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced.
Neighboring Years and the Federal Total
In fiscal year 2018, 14 people were sentenced under §2J1.4, with a median prison term of 6 months. In fiscal year 2020, 13 people were sentenced, with a median of 5.5 months.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 110 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of those, 60% went to prison, the median prison term was 6.6 months, and 90% pleaded guilty. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 21 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The table lists each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 17 | 12 months | 94% |
| 2017 | 7 | 3.6 months | 6 of 7 |
| 2018 | 14 | 6 months | 93% |
| 2019 | 13 | 4 months | 92% |
| 2020 | 13 | 5.5 months | 85% |
| 2021 | 13 | 18 months | 85% |
| 2022 | 8 | 8 months | 7 of 8 |
| 2023 | 9 | 1 months | 8 of 9 |
| 2024 | 7 | 12 months | 6 of 7 |
| 2025 | 9 | 22.5 months | 9 of 9 |
What the Records Leave Out
The records give no case facts and no reasons for any sentence. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers appear here.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.4 (13), 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.
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)
- §2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2J1.4 Impersonation: 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.