> ## 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. # §2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with-fy2021/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:30:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:30:25.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 26 people sentenced under guideline §2N2.1 (27%) received a prison term, and 15 (58%) received probation only. The median prison term was 1.2 months. Of the 26 people, 24 (92%) pleaded guilty. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With A](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with/) › §2N2.1: FY2021 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 26 people sentenced under guideline §2N2.1 (27%) received a prison term, and 15 (58%) received probation only. The median prison term was 1.2 months. Of the 26 people, 24 (92%) pleaded guilty. 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 26 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](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/). ## Prison Terms That Were Short The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 26 people sentenced in fiscal year 2021 with §2N2.1 as the primary guideline. Prison went to 7 of them (27%). The median prison term was 1.2 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 6 months or more, and a quarter received 1 month or less. Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 15 people (58%). For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 15% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 4 months. The 27% in fiscal year 2021 is a higher share than that. ## Pleas and 2 Trial Convictions A guilty plea was entered by 24 of the 26 people (92%), and 2 were convicted after a trial. All of the guilty pleas (100%) had a written plea agreement. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 1 month. After a trial, it was 8.9 months, based on 2 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. These groups are small, so the figures describe those cases and not a general effect of going to trial. ## Position Against the Guideline Range Within the guideline range were 24 of the 26 sentences (92%). One sentence (4%) was below the range at the government's request, and 1 (4%) was above the range. None was below the range without a government request. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2N2.1, 93% of sentences were within the range. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021, under every guideline, it was 43%. ## Fines, Restitution, and Supervised Release A fine was ordered for 16 people (62%), and restitution for 1 (4%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 4 people (15%), with a median term of 12 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 26 people (0%). In criminal history, 88% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Scope of the Count The count covers one guideline. Its Manual title is "Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product," and the Commission's offense type for the 26 cases is Food and Drug. The federal fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021\. People who were acquitted or whose cases were dismissed are absent from the files. Prison terms are terms imposed, not time served. ## Looking at Fiscal Years 2020 and 2022 In fiscal year 2020, 17 people were sentenced under §2N2.1, and the median prison term was 36 months. In fiscal year 2022, 21 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 4 months. The median of 1.2 months in fiscal year 2021 is lower than both. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021, under every guideline, totaled 57,287 people. Their median prison term was 29 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The yearly table is below. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 43 | 1 months | 100% | | 2017 | 28 | 30 months | 100% | | 2018 | 28 | 2.5 months | 100% | | 2019 | 28 | 9 months | 96% | | 2020 | 17 | 36 months | 88% | | 2021 | 26 | 1.2 months | 92% | | 2022 | 21 | 4 months | 95% | | 2023 | 25 | 0.5 months | 100% | | 2024 | 22 | 18 months | 100% | | 2025 | 26 | n/a | 100% | ## Limits on the Conclusions A median from 7 prison sentences can change with a single case. The files say nothing about the facts of a case or a court's reasons for a sentence. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2N2.1 (26), 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) - [§2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with/) (overview) - [§2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with-fy2020/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2N2.1 Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with-fy2022/) (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.