> ## 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. # §2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant-fy2022/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:30:07.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:30:07.000Z - Description: The median prison term for the 27 people sentenced under guideline §2J1.6 in fiscal year 2022 was 10 months, lower than the median for any other fiscal year in the 2016 to 2025 table. All 27 received a prison term. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant/) › §2J1.6: FY2022 **In brief:** The median prison term for the 27 people sentenced under guideline §2J1.6 in fiscal year 2022 was 10 months, lower than the median for any other fiscal year in the 2016 to 2025 table. All 27 received a prison term. 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 27 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022\. 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/). ## A 10-Month Median In fiscal year 2022, the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 27 people whose primary guideline was §2J1.6, "Failure to Appear by Defendant." All 27 (100%) received a prison term, and none received probation only. The median prison term was 10 months. A quarter received 16.5 months or more, and a quarter received 6.7 months or less. The median was 13.5 months in 2021 and 12 months in 2023, and it was 12 months across all years under this guideline. The table shows every year. | 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% | ## One Trial, 26 Guilty Pleas A total of 26 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 10 months. The term for the person sent to prison after the trial was 9.4 months. One case cannot support a comparison between pleas and trials. Among those who pleaded guilty, 81% had a written plea agreement, and 15% pleaded guilty without one. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 27 people. ## Guideline Range Comparison The sentence was within the guideline range for 15 people (56%). It was below the range at the government's request for 1 (4%), and below the range without a government request for 9 (33%). It was above the range for 2 (7%). The within-range share was 83% in 2021 and 58% in 2023\. It was 42% across all federal cases in 2022 and 61% across all years under this guideline. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution Supervised release followed prison for 23 people (85%), and the median term was 36 months. Only 1 person (4%) was ordered to pay a fine, and only 1 (4%) was ordered to pay restitution. ## Criminal History The Commission placed 19% of the group in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 11% in category VI, the highest. A court-martial record has no matching field. ## The Rest of the Federal Caseload in 2022 The Commission recorded 64,142 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022, counting every guideline. Their median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The median under §2J1.6 was lower than that overall median. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 310 people were sentenced under §2J1.6, and 98% were sent to prison. The Commission classes the 27 cases from 2022 as Administration of Justice offenses. ## What Cannot Be Concluded This fiscal year began on October 1, 2021 and ended on September 30, 2022\. Cases that ended in acquittal or dismissal are not included. A group of 27 is small, so the lower median does not show a trend, and the records give no reason for it. 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 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.6 (27), 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) - [§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant/) (overview) - [§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant-fy2021/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant-fy2023/) (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.