§2N1.1 Tampering or Attempting to Tamper Involving Risk of Death or Bodily Injury: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 15 people were sentenced under §2N1.1. 13 (87%) received a prison term with a median of 24 months, and all 15 pleaded guilty. None of the 15 sentences was within the guideline range: 5 were below it at the government's request and 10 without one.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 15 people were sentenced under §2N1.1. 13 (87%) received a prison term with a median of 24 months, and all 15 pleaded guilty. None of the 15 sentences was within the guideline range: 5 were below it at the government's request and 10 without one.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 15 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
15 Cases, 13 Prison Terms
Fiscal year 2021 had 15 people whose primary sentencing guideline was §2N1.1, which the Manual titles "Tampering or Attempting to Tamper Involving Risk of Death or Bodily Injury." 13 of them (87%) received a prison term. 1 (7%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 24 months, or 2 years. A quarter of those sent to prison received 12 months or less, and a quarter received 40 months or more.
13 people (87%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months.
A Shorter Median Than the Years Around It
The median of 24 months was lower than the 46 months in fiscal year 2020 and lower than the 36 months in fiscal year 2022. It was also lower than the 26 months for all years from 2016 to 2025.
The yearly counts are small, and the median depends on the 13 people sent to prison. The records cannot show whether the lower median reflects the kinds of cases or only the group of people sentenced that year.
No Sentence Was Within the Range
0 of the 15 sentences (0%) fell within the guideline range. 5 (33%) were below the range at the government's request, and 10 (67%) were below it without a government request. None was above the range.
The previous year had 8% within the range, and the next year had 14%. Over all years in the table, the figure was 5%.
Pleas, Agreements, and Mandatory Minimums
15 of 15 people (100%) pleaded guilty. 87% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement and 13% were straight pleas. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 15 people.
Acquittals and dismissals are outside this data, which includes only convicted and sentenced people.
Money Orders and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 2 people (13%), and restitution for 5 (33%). 93% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category, category I, and 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial files carry no criminal history field.
The Wider Federal Picture for Fiscal Year 2021
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. In that year, 57,287 people were sentenced under all guidelines. The median prison term was 29 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 43% of sentences were within the range.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 116 people were sentenced under §2N1.1. 82% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 26 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The Commission puts these cases in its Food and Drug offense type.
The table gives the count, median prison term, and plea share for every year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | 21 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2017 | 8 | 20 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2018 | 10 | 30 months | 90% |
| 2019 | 11 | 36 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 13 | 46 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 15 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 14 | 36 months | 93% |
| 2023 | 19 | 36 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 10 | 13 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 12 | 12 months | 100% |
What These Records Leave Open
The records do not state what happened in any case or why the sentences were below the range. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2N1.1 (15), 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)
- §2N1.1 Tampering or Attempting to Tamper Involving Risk of Death or Bodily Injury: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2N1.1 Tampering or Attempting to Tamper Involving Risk of Death or Bodily Injury: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2N1.1 Tampering or Attempting to Tamper Involving Risk of Death or Bodily Injury: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.