§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Of the 31 people sentenced under guideline §2J1.6 in fiscal year 2023, 28 (90%) received a prison term and 3 (10%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months, the same as the all-years median for this guideline.
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In brief: Of the 31 people sentenced under guideline §2J1.6 in fiscal year 2023, 28 (90%) received a prison term and 3 (10%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months, the same as the all-years median for this guideline.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 31 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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 3 People
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 31 people in fiscal year 2023 whose primary guideline was §2J1.6, "Failure to Appear by Defendant." A prison term was imposed on 28 of them (90%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was imposed on 3 (10%).
Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 98% of people sentenced under this guideline were sent to prison. The 2023 share was lower than that.
Prison Term Lengths
The median prison term among the 28 people sent to prison was 12 months. A quarter received 18.8 months or more, and a quarter received 11 months or less. The median was 10 months in 2022 and 12 months in 2024.
These are the terms imposed, not the time served. The table below lists the median for all 10 years.
| 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 Plea Agreements
A total of 30 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 83% had a written plea agreement, and 13% pleaded guilty without one.
The Commission data for this year gives no separate prison terms for pleas and trials, so no comparison is made.
Mandatory Minimums and Supervised Release
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 30 people with that information recorded (7%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 23 of the 31 (74%), with a median term of 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 6 people (19%), and restitution for 1 (3%).
Position Against the Guideline Range
For 18 people (58%), the sentence was within the guideline range. For 6 (19%), it was below the range at the government's request, and for 6 (19%), it was below the range without a government request. For 1 (3%), it was above the range.
The within-range share was 56% in 2022 and 47% in 2024. It was 42% across all federal cases in 2023 and 61% across all years under this guideline.
Criminal History
In criminal history category I, the lowest, were 26% of the group, and 13% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Wider Federal Picture in 2023
Across every guideline, 64,124 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. Their median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The Commission classes the 31 §2J1.6 cases as Administration of Justice offenses.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 310 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 95% pleaded guilty.
Limits
Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. With 31 people, one year does not show a trend.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.6 (31), 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.