§2K1.3 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Explosive Materials: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 19 people were sentenced in federal court with §2K1.3 as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 18 months, the same as for the all-years figure under this guideline. All 19 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 3 sentences (16%) were above the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2K1.3 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Ex › §2K1.3: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 19 people were sentenced in federal court with §2K1.3 as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 18 months, the same as for the all-years figure under this guideline. All 19 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 3 sentences (16%) were above the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 19 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 Median Matched the All-Years Median
Of the 19 people sentenced in fiscal year 2020, 15 (79%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter received 27 months or more, and a quarter received 11.1 months or less.
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, the median under §2K1.3 was 18 months. The year before, fiscal year 2019, also had a median of 18 months. The next year, fiscal year 2021, had 20.5 months, which was higher.
Another 3 people (16%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Sentences Above and Below the Range
In fiscal year 2020, 3 sentences (16%) were above the guideline range. A sentence above the range means the court imposed a longer term than the guidelines recommended for that offense level and criminal history.
5 sentences (26%) were within the range. 6 people (32%) were below it at the government's request, and 5 (26%) were below it without a request.
Across all years under this guideline, 34% of sentences were within the range. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, the share was 50%.
What the Guideline Covers
The Guidelines Manual titles §2K1.3 "Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Explosive Materials; Prohibited Transactions Involving Explosive Materials." The Commission sorts these cases into its firearms offense type.
The guideline range is a recommended span of months based on the offense level and criminal history category. Courts may sentence outside it. A sentence below the range at the government's request usually reflects a motion by prosecutors, for example for cooperation, though the records here do not give the reason in any case. Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. Federal courts sentenced 64,565 people under all guidelines in that year, and the median prison term was 18 months.
Pleas and Mandatory Minimums
All 19 people pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 84% had a written plea agreement, and 16% were straight pleas with no agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 19 people.
Supervised Release, Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
Supervised release was ordered for 15 people (79%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 4 (21%), and restitution for 2 (11%).
In this group, 37% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 0% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 20 | 30 months | 95% |
| 2017 | 30 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 17 | 33 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 27 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 19 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 17 | 20.5 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 6 | 24.5 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2023 | 20 | 16.5 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 14 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 15 | 6.2 months | 100% |
Limits
The table lists counts from 6 to 30 a year, so one year cannot be called a trend. The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced, and prison terms are those imposed, not served.
The approved crosswalk lists 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 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2K1.3 (19), 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2K1.3 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Explosive Materials: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2K1.3 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Explosive Materials: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2K1.3 Unlawful Receipt, Possession, or Transportation of Explosive Materials: 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.