> ## 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 2022 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with-fy2022/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:30:27.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:30:27.000Z - Description: Under guideline §2N2.1 in fiscal year 2022, 9 of the 21 people sentenced (43%) received a prison term, and 12 (57%) received probation only. The median prison term was 4 months, the same as the median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of the 21 people, 20 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: FY2022 **In brief:** Under guideline §2N2.1 in fiscal year 2022, 9 of the 21 people sentenced (43%) received a prison term, and 12 (57%) received probation only. The median prison term was 4 months, the same as the median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Of the 21 people, 20 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 21 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022\. 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/). ## How Many Went to Prison Under §2N2.1 in Fiscal Year 2022? The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 21 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary guideline was §2N2.1\. Of them, 9 people (43%) received a prison term. The other 12 (57%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 4 months. A quarter received 6 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less. Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, the share sent to prison was 15%, which is lower than 43%. ## 1 Trial Conviction, 20 Guilty Pleas A guilty plea was entered by 20 of the 21 people (95%). One person was convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 2 months. After a trial, it was 8 months, based on 1 person convicted at trial and sent to prison. A single sentence is not a median for a group, so these figures should not be used to judge the effect of going to trial. ## Sentences Matched the Range in Most Cases Within the guideline range were 19 of the 21 sentences (90%). One sentence (5%) was below the range without a government request, and 1 (5%) was above the range. None was below the range at the government's request. The 90% is lower than the 93% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2N2.1, and much higher than the 42% for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 under every guideline. ## Money Orders and Supervised Release Fines were ordered for 9 people (43%), and restitution for 3 (14%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 5 people (24%), with a median term of 12 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 21 people (0%). In criminal history, 95% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## The Guideline and the Counting Rules In the Sentencing Guidelines Manual, §2N2.1 is titled "Violations of Statutes and Regulations Dealing With Any Food, Drug, Biological Product, Device, Cosmetic, or Agricultural Product." The Commission files the cases under Food and Drug. Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022\. The Commission's files cover only people who were convicted and sentenced. Prison terms are those imposed by the court. ## The Years on Either Side In fiscal year 2021, 26 people were sentenced under §2N2.1, the median prison term was 1.2 months, and 92% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2023, 25 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 0.5 months, and 92% were within the range. The median of 4 months in fiscal year 2022 is higher than both of those years. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022, 64,142 people had a median prison term of 30 months and 97% pleaded guilty. The table lists each year from 2016 to 2025. | 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% | ## What the Records Do Not Answer Counts of 21 people are small, and the records do not say why a court chose prison for some and probation for others. They also do not describe the products or conduct involved. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart to §2N2.1\. For that reason, this post gives federal numbers only. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2N2.1 (21), 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 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with-fy2021/) (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 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2n2-1-violations-of-statutes-and-regulations-dealing-with-fy2023/) (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.