> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-4-impersonation-fy2020/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:58:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:58:43.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2020, 13 people were sentenced under §2J1.4, and 10 of them (77%) received a prison term with a median of 5.5 months. Of the 13, 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 4.6 months after a guilty plea and 5.5 months after a trial, which are close. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2J1.4 Impersonation](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-4-impersonation/) › §2J1.4: FY2020 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2020, 13 people were sentenced under §2J1.4, and 10 of them (77%) received a prison term with a median of 5.5 months. Of the 13, 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 4.6 months after a guilty plea and 5.5 months after a trial, which are close. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Pleas and Trials Compared, With a Caution In fiscal year 2020, 11 of the 13 people sentenced under §2J1.4 (85%) pleaded guilty. The other 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 4.6 months. After a trial it was 5.5 months, based on 2 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. A group of 2 is too small to show how plea and trial sentences compare in general. Among the guilty pleas, 82% had a written plea agreement and 18% were straight pleas with no agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 13 people with that information recorded. ## How Many Went to Prison In all, 10 people (77%) received a prison term, and 3 (23%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison and no other confinement. The median prison term was 5.5 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 7.6 months or more, and a quarter received 1.4 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not time served. Supervised release after prison was ordered for 8 people (62%), with a median term of 12 months. ## Where Sentences Fell Against the Range Within the range were 10 sentences (77%). Below the range without a government request were 2 (15%), and above the range was 1 (8%). None were below the range at the government's request. The all-years share within the range for §2J1.4 is 79%, and the all-guidelines share for fiscal year 2020 is 50%. The share for this year was about the same as the first and higher than the second. ## Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History A fine was ordered for 1 person (8%). Restitution was ordered for 0 (0%). In the lowest criminal history category I were 77% of the group, and 8% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## The Guideline, the Offense Type, and the Year In the Guidelines Manual, §2J1.4 is titled "Impersonation". These 13 cases belong to the Commission's Administration of Justice offense type. Each person appears once, under the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count. Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020\. The Commission's data leaves out anyone who was acquitted or whose case was dismissed. ## Fiscal Years Before and After Fiscal year 2019 had 13 people under §2J1.4, a median prison term of 4 months, and 92% of sentences within the range. Fiscal year 2021 also had 13 people, with a median of 18 months and 77% within the range. The all-years record for §2J1.4 covers 110 people, with 60% sent to prison, a median prison term of 6.6 months, and 90% guilty pleas. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, 64,565 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 18 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 | ## Limits of the Records The records do not show what happened in any case. No close court-martial counterpart exists for this guideline in the crosswalk, so this post gives federal numbers alone. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-4-impersonation/) (overview) - [§2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-4-impersonation-fy2019/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-4-impersonation-fy2021/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.