§2Q1.3 Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 11 people sentenced under §2Q1.3 (64%) received a sentence below the guideline range without a government request, and only 1 (9%) received a sentence within the range. 2 people (18%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 7.5 months. Probation only went to 8
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2Q1.3 Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants › §2Q1.3: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 7 of the 11 people sentenced under §2Q1.3 (64%) received a sentence below the guideline range without a government request, and only 1 (9%) received a sentence within the range. 2 people (18%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 7.5 months. Probation only went to 8 (73%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 11 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.
Sentences Mostly Below the Guideline Range
The Commission recorded the position of the sentence against the guideline range for all 11 people. 7 (64%) were below the range without a government request. 3 (27%) were below the range at the government's request, and 1 (9%) was within the range. None was above the range.
The within-range share of 9% is low. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021, under every guideline, sentences within the range were 43%. The all-years figure for §2Q1.3 is 31%.
The previous fiscal year, 2020, had sentences within the range at 46% for this guideline. The next fiscal year, 2022, had 31%. With 11 people, one year's share moves a great deal with a few cases.
Who Was Sentenced and How
Guideline §2Q1.3 is titled "Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants; Recordkeeping, Tampering, and Falsification" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The Commission counted 11 people with it as the primary guideline in fiscal year 2021. All 11 are in the offense type Environmental.
2 of the 11 (18%) received a prison term, and 8 (73%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term for the 2 was 7.5 months. A quarter received 9.8 months or more, and a quarter received 5.2 months or less. A median based on 2 people says very little.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
Pleas, Mandatory Minimums, and Add-On Penalties
11 of 11 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement, and 9% were straight pleas with no agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 11 people with that information recorded (9%).
2 people (18%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 18 months. A fine was ordered for 7 (64%). Restitution was ordered for 0 (0%).
Criminal History and the Wider Federal Numbers
82% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category, and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
In all of fiscal year 2021, 57,287 people were sentenced in federal court under every guideline. The median prison term was 29 months, and guilty pleas were 98%.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 163 people were sentenced under §2Q1.3. 26% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 5 months, and guilty pleas were 93%. The share sent to prison in fiscal year 2021 was lower than that, and the median prison term was higher.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 24 | 2.5 months | 92% |
| 2017 | 34 | 9 months | 88% |
| 2018 | 18 | 1 months | 94% |
| 2019 | 20 | 15 months | 90% |
| 2020 | 13 | 2 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 11 | 7.5 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 13 | 11.4 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 9 | 18 months | 7 of 9 |
| 2024 | 10 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 11 | 0 months | 100% |
What Cannot Be Read From These Counts
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records do not show the facts of any case or the reasons for any sentence below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q1.3 (11), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2Q1.3 Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2Q1.3 Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2Q1.3 Mishandling of Other Environmental Pollutants: 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.