§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
In fiscal year 2017, the median prison term under guideline §2J1.6 was 13.5 months for 40 people, all of whom were sent to prison. Of the 40, 39 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2017, the median prison term under guideline §2J1.6 was 13.5 months for 40 people, all of whom were sent to prison. Of the 40, 39 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 40 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
A Median of 13.5 Months for 40 People
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 40 people in fiscal year 2017 whose primary guideline was §2J1.6, "Failure to Appear by Defendant." Each of the 40 (100%) received a prison term, and none received probation only. The Commission counts a person under a guideline when it set the offense level for the most serious count.
The median prison term was 13.5 months. A quarter received 20.2 months or more, and a quarter received 8 months or less. The median was higher than the 12 months in 2016 and in 2018, and higher than the 12 months for all years under this guideline.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 41 | 12 months | 83% |
| 2017 | 40 | 13.5 months | 98% |
| 2018 | 30 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 34 | 13.7 months | 94% |
| 2020 | 24 | 15 months | 92% |
| 2021 | 24 | 13.5 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 27 | 10 months | 96% |
| 2023 | 31 | 12 months | 97% |
| 2024 | 30 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 29 | 12 months | 93% |
Pleas and the Single Trial
A total of 39 people (98%) pleaded guilty, and 1 person was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 13 months. The term for the person convicted at trial was 18 months. One case cannot support a comparison.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 64% had a written plea agreement, and 36% pleaded guilty with no agreement.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Range
Sentences were within the guideline range for 24 people (60%). They were below the range at the government's request for 6 (15%), and below the range without a government request for 7 (18%). They were above the range for 3 (8%).
The within-range share was 63% in 2016 and 63% in 2018. It was 49% for all federal cases in 2017 and 61% for all years under this guideline.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Mandatory Minimums
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 40 people (5%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 33 (83%), with a median term of 24 months.
A fine was ordered for 2 people (5%), and restitution for 1 (3%).
Criminal History
A total of 23% of the group was in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 23% was in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Federal Sentencing Overall in Fiscal Year 2017
Across every guideline, 66,873 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. Their median prison term was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
The Commission classes the 40 cases under this guideline as Administration of Justice offenses. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 310 people were sentenced under §2J1.6, and 95% pleaded guilty.
Limits on What Can Be Said
Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. Only convicted and sentenced people are counted, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. A median from 40 people can change with a few cases, so the records do not show a trend. They also do not show the facts behind any sentence or why a judge chose a term within or outside the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.6 (40), 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)
- §2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.