§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 121 people sentenced under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," in fiscal year 2018, the largest yearly count from 2016 to 2025. Prison was imposed on 43 (36%), with a median prison term of 6 months. Probation only went to 67 (55%).
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants › §2Q2.1: FY2018
In brief: The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 121 people sentenced under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," in fiscal year 2018, the largest yearly count from 2016 to 2025. Prison was imposed on 43 (36%), with a median prison term of 6 months. Probation only went to 67 (55%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 121 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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.
The Largest Group in the 2016 to 2025 Period
In fiscal year 2018, 121 people were sentenced in federal court with this as the primary guideline. The previous year had 63 people, and the next year had 82. No other year in the table below has a count as high as 121.
All 121 cases fall under the Commission's offense type Environmental. A larger count says only that more people were sentenced under the guideline that year. The records cannot show whether more cases were brought or whether the cases were counted differently.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 84 | 10 months | 93% |
| 2017 | 63 | 5.9 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 121 | 6 months | more than 99% |
| 2019 | 82 | 5.5 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 80 | 6 months | 99% |
| 2021 | 73 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 69 | 7.7 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 79 | 10 months | 97% |
| 2024 | 57 | 6 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 90 | 4.4 months | 99% |
Who Went to Prison and for How Long
A prison term was imposed on 43 of the 121 (36%), and 67 (55%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The share sent to prison was higher than the 32% for all years 2016 to 2025.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 11 months or more, and a quarter received 3 months or less. The median for everyone sentenced in federal court in 2018 was 24 months.
After prison, 41 (34%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of 121 people (less than 1%).
One Person Went to Trial
Of the 121, 120 (more than 99%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 6 months. The one person convicted at trial and sent to prison received 27 months.
A single case cannot be compared with 120 others in any useful way. Among guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement, and 4% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Guideline Range Positions
For 120 people with the information, 47% (56) were sentenced within the range. Another 27% (32) were below the range at the government's request, and 25% (30) were below the range without a government request. Above the range: 2% (2).
The share within the range was lower than the 51% for all federal cases in 2018. The year before, 2017, was 38%, and the year after, 2019, was 49%.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 55 people (45%), and restitution for 47 (39%). Criminal history was in the lowest category, category I, for 81%, and in the highest, category VI, for 0%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
What the Counts Leave Out
The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not counted. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
The median in 2017 was 5.9 months and in 2019 was 5.5 months, so 2018 was about the same as both. 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 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q2.1 (121), 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)
- §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (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.