> ## 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 2024 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant-fy2024/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:30:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:30:09.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2024, 47% of the 30 people sentenced under guideline §2J1.6 received a sentence within the guideline range, which is a lower share than in the years before and after. All 30 pleaded guilty, 29 received a prison term, and the median was 12 months. - 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: FY2024 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2024, 47% of the 30 people sentenced under guideline §2J1.6 received a sentence within the guideline range, which is a lower share than in the years before and after. All 30 pleaded guilty, 29 received a prison term, and the median was 12 months. 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 30 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024\. 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/). ## Fewer Sentences Within the Range in 2024 The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 30 people in fiscal year 2024 whose primary guideline was §2J1.6, "Failure to Appear by Defendant." The sentence was within the guideline range for 14 of them (47%). It was below the range at the government's request for 9 (30%), and below the range without a government request for 4 (13%). It was above the range for 3 (10%). The within-range share was 58% in 2023 and 66% in 2025\. Across all years for this guideline it was 61%, and across all federal cases in 2024 it was 46%. ## Prison Terms and Probation Of the 30 people, 29 (97%) received a prison term, and 1 (3%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 20 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. The median was also 12 months in 2023, in 2025, and across all years. Prison terms for these people were therefore about the same as in neighboring years, even though the range position was different. The table lists 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% | ## All Guilty Pleas All 30 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Among them, 77% had a written plea agreement, and 20% pleaded guilty without one. Only 1 of the 30 people (3%) was subject to a mandatory minimum prison term. ## Supervised Release and Payments For 22 people (73%), the court ordered supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. The records show 0 fines (0%) and 0 orders of restitution (0%). ## Criminal History The criminal history breakdown shows 23% of the group in category I, the lowest, and 13% in category VI, the highest. The court-martial system keeps no comparable field. ## Comparison With All Federal Cases in 2024 Across every guideline, 61,678 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024\. Their median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The 12-month median here was lower than that. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 310 people were sentenced under §2J1.6\. Of those, 98% were sent to prison. The Commission classes these cases as Administration of Justice offenses. ## What the Records Cannot Answer The fiscal year in this post began on October 1, 2023 and ended on September 30, 2024\. People who were not convicted are not counted, and each prison term is the one the court imposed rather than the time a person served. With 30 people, a few cases can change a percentage, and the records give no reason for the lower within-range share. 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 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2J1.6 (30), 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](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 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant-fy2023/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2J1.6 Failure to Appear by Defendant: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2j1-6-failure-to-appear-by-defendant-fy2025/) (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.