> ## 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. # §2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q1-2-mishandling-of-hazardous-or-toxic-substances-or-fy2024/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:29:58.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:29:58.000Z - Description: All 35 people sentenced under guideline §2Q1.2 in fiscal year 2024 pleaded guilty. A fine was ordered for 24 of them (69%), and 11 (31%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 4.3 months. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesti](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q1-2-mishandling-of-hazardous-or-toxic-substances-or/) › §2Q1.2: FY2024 **In brief:** All 35 people sentenced under guideline §2Q1.2 in fiscal year 2024 pleaded guilty. A fine was ordered for 24 of them (69%), and 11 (31%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 4.3 months. 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 35 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024\. 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/). ## Fines Were Ordered for Most of the 35 People In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 35 people whose primary guideline was §2Q1.2\. A fine was ordered for 24 (69%), and restitution for 10 (29%). A fine is a payment to the government. Restitution is a payment to make up for a loss. The records do not show the amounts or whether they were paid. ## Prison and Probation A prison term was imposed on 11 people (31%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was imposed on 19 (54%). The median prison term among those sent to prison was 4.3 months. A quarter received 6 months or more, and a quarter received 1 month or less. Supervised release after prison was ordered for 10 people (29%), with a median term of 12 months. ## No Trials, and Plea Agreements in Every Case All 35 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Every plea came with a written plea agreement, and no one pleaded guilty without one. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to anyone in the group. ## Below the Range at the Government's Request Was the Largest Group The largest share of sentences, 49% (17 people), was below the guideline range at the government's request. Another 26% (9 people) were within the range, and 26% (9 people) were below the range without a government request. No sentence was above the range. The within-range share was 32% in 2023 and 30% in 2025\. It was 46% for all federal sentences in 2024 and 37% for all years under this guideline. ## Neighboring Years The previous year, 2023, had 31 people and a median prison term of 4.4 months. The next year, 2025, had 30 people and a median of 0.3 months. The table lists all years. With 30 to 35 people in each of these years, differences in the medians may reflect a few cases. The records do not show a trend. | 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% | ## Criminal History and the Federal Total A total of 91% of the group was in criminal history category I, the lowest, and none was in category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. The Commission counted 61,678 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 across every guideline. Their median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 321 people were sentenced under §2Q1.2. ## How to Read the Guideline and Its Limits The Guidelines Manual titles §2Q1.2 "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 2024 ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024\. Only convicted and sentenced people are counted. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q1.2 (35), 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) - [§2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q1-2-mishandling-of-hazardous-or-toxic-substances-or/) (overview) - [§2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q1-2-mishandling-of-hazardous-or-toxic-substances-or-fy2023/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2Q1.2 Mishandling of Hazardous or Toxic Substances or Pesticides: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q1-2-mishandling-of-hazardous-or-toxic-substances-or-fy2025/) (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.