§2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
In fiscal year 2023, 31 people were sentenced under guideline §2Q1.2. A total of 21 (68%) received probation only, and the other 10 (32%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 4.4 months.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2023, 31 people were sentenced under guideline §2Q1.2. A total of 21 (68%) received probation only, and the other 10 (32%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 4.4 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 31 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
Probation Only for 68 Percent
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 31 people in fiscal year 2023 with §2Q1.2 as the primary guideline. Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was the sentence for 21 of them (68%). Prison was the sentence for 10 (32%).
The same count of 31 people appeared in fiscal year 2019. The year before 2023 had 49 people, and the year after had 35.
Trial and Plea Terms: One Case Each Way
A total of 30 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 1 person was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 3 months. The term after the trial was 18 months, but it comes from 1 person and cannot be compared with the plea figure.
Every person who pleaded guilty had a written plea agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to anyone in the group.
How Long Prison Terms Lasted
The median prison term for the 10 people sent to prison was 4.4 months. A quarter received 15 months or more, and a quarter received 2.2 months or less.
The 2022 median was 2.8 months, and the 2024 median was 4.3 months. Across all years for this guideline, the median was 3.5 months. The table shows each year.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 10 people (32%), and the median term was 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 25 | 12 months | 92% |
| 2017 | 22 | 19 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 26 | 9 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 31 | 12 months | 97% |
| 2020 | 18 | 3 months | 94% |
| 2021 | 54 | 0.2 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 49 | 2.8 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 31 | 4.4 months | 97% |
| 2024 | 35 | 4.3 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 30 | 0.3 months | 87% |
Fines Were Ordered More Often Than Restitution
A fine was ordered for 18 people (58%), and restitution for 12 (39%). The records do not say how the amounts were set or whether they were paid.
Against the Guideline Range
For 10 people (32%), the sentence was within the guideline range. For 9 (29%), it was below the range at the government's request, and for 12 (39%), it was below the range without a government request. No sentence was above the range.
The within-range share was 48% in 2022 and 26% in 2024. It was 42% across all federal sentences in 2023 and 37% across all years for this guideline.
Criminal History and the Federal Total
Criminal history category I, the lowest, covered 87% of the group, and no one was in category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, under every guideline, totaled 64,124 people. Their median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
Scope and Limits
The guideline is titled "Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides; Recordkeeping, Tampering, and Falsification; Unlawfully Transporting Hazardous Materials in Commerce." The Commission's offense type for these cases is Environmental.
Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the federal numbers stand alone.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q1.2 (31), 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)
- §2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.