§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 24 people were sentenced under guideline §2J1.6, and 22 of them (92%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 15 months, the highest yearly median for this guideline in the 2016 to 2025 table.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 24 people were sentenced under guideline §2J1.6, and 22 of them (92%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 15 months, the highest yearly median for this guideline in the 2016 to 2025 table.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 24 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.
The Highest Yearly Median in the Table
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 24 people in fiscal year 2020 whose primary guideline was §2J1.6, "Failure to Appear by Defendant." Of those, 22 (92%) received a prison term, and 2 (8%) received probation only.
The median prison term was 15 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 9.2 months or less. The table shows that 15 months is higher than the median for every other year from 2016 to 2025.
| 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 Trials
A total of 22 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 15 months. After a trial it was 16.5 months, based on 2 people.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 91% had a written plea agreement, and 9% pleaded guilty without one.
No Sentence Was Below the Range at the Government's Request
For 14 people (58%), the sentence was within the guideline range. For 0 people (0%), it was below the range at the government's request. For 7 (29%), it was below the range without a government request, and for 3 (13%), it was above the range.
The within-range share was 62% in 2019 and 83% in 2021. Across all years under this guideline it was 61%, and across all federal cases in 2020 it was 50%.
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, Fines
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 24 people (4%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 18 (75%), with a median term of 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 1 person (4%), and restitution for 1 (4%).
Criminal History
In criminal history category I, the lowest, were 25% of the group, and 17% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Comparison With All Federal Sentencing in 2020
Across every guideline, 64,565 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. Their median prison term was 18 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The 15-month median here was lower than the overall median.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 310 people were sentenced under §2J1.6, and 98% were sent to prison. The median prison term across those years was 12 months. The year before, 2019, had 34 people, and the year after, 2021, had 24.
What the Numbers Cannot Show
The Commission classes the 24 cases as Administration of Justice offenses. Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. With 24 people, one year does not make a trend, and a single case can move the median. The records do not show the facts behind any sentence.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.6 (24), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: 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.