§2J1.4 Impersonation: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 13 people sentenced under §2J1.4 (54%) received probation only, and 5 (38%) went to prison. The median prison term for those 5 was 18 months, higher than the 5.5 months in fiscal year 2020. The 13 cases are too few to call this a trend.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2J1.4 Impersonation › §2J1.4: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 13 people sentenced under §2J1.4 (54%) received probation only, and 5 (38%) went to prison. The median prison term for those 5 was 18 months, higher than the 5.5 months in fiscal year 2020. The 13 cases are too few to call this a trend.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
Probation Only for 7 of 13
In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 13 people sentenced under §2J1.4 received probation only, which means no prison and no other confinement. A prison term went to 5 people (38%).
The median prison term for the 5 was 18 months. A quarter received 18.1 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 5 people (38%), with a median term of 12 months.
A Higher Median Than the Year Before
In fiscal year 2020, 13 people were sentenced under this guideline, and the median prison term was 5.5 months. The median in fiscal year 2021 was higher. The share sent to prison was lower in 2021 than in 2020, when 77% received a prison term.
The records do not show why the median moved. The groups are small, and a few sentences can change a median.
Guilty Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements
Of the 13 people, 11 (85%) pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was 19.6 months, based on 2 people.
All of the guilty pleas (100%) had a written plea agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 13 people with that information recorded.
The Guideline Range
Within the range were 10 sentences (77%). Below the range at the government's request were 2 (15%), and above the range was 1 (8%). None were below the range without a government request.
Across all years of §2J1.4, 79% of sentences were within the range. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2021, the share was 43%. The share for this guideline was about the same as its all-years figure and higher than the all-guidelines figure.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 4 people (31%), and restitution for 2 (15%). Category I, the lowest criminal history category, held 69% of the group, and category VI, the highest, held 15%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Definitions and Counting Rules
The Guidelines Manual titles §2J1.4 "Impersonation". The Sentencing Commission lists all 13 cases under Administration of Justice. A case is counted when §2J1.4 was the primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. Only people convicted and sentenced are counted. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
The All-Years and All-Guidelines Figures
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 110 people were sentenced under §2J1.4. In that period, 60% went to prison, the median prison term was 6.6 months, and 90% pleaded guilty. The median in fiscal year 2021 was higher than the all-years median.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2021, 57,287 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 29 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The table lists each year for §2J1.4.
| 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 Cannot Be Read From the Data
The records give no case facts. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 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 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.