> ## 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. # §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants-fy2019/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:26:44.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:26:44.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2019, 82 people were sentenced in federal court under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 5.5 months, and 20 people (24%) received prison. All 82 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/) › [§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants/) › §2Q2.1: FY2019 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2019, 82 people were sentenced in federal court under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 5.5 months, and 20 people (24%) received prison. All 82 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 82 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019\. 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/). ## A 5.5-Month Median Prison Term The median prison term in fiscal year 2019 was 5.5 months among the 20 people sent to prison. A quarter received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 0.9 months or less. That lower figure shows that some prison terms were very short. The median was lower than the 21 months for everyone sentenced in federal court in 2019\. It was also close to the 6 months median for this guideline over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. A total of 42 people (51%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. After prison, 17 (21%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 24 months. ## Sentences Below the Range Were Mostly Not at the Government's Request Of the 82 people, 49% (40) were sentenced within the advisory guideline range. Another 38% (31) were below the range without a government request, and 12% (10) were below it at the government's request. Above the range: 1% (1). Sentences below the range at the government's request were therefore less common than sentences below the range without one. The records do not say what led to either kind of departure from the range. The share within the range was lower than the 51% for all federal cases in 2019\. It was higher than the 47% in 2018 and the 40% in 2020 for this guideline. ## Plea Agreements and No Trials A total of 82 of 82 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. For all guidelines in 2019, guilty pleas were 98%. Among the guilty pleas, 87% had a written plea agreement, and 13% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 82 people. ## Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History A fine was ordered for 35 people (43%), and restitution for 28 (34%). In criminal history, 84% were in the lowest category, category I, and 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Year-to-Year Context The Commission counted 82 people in 2019, compared with 121 in 2018 and 80 in 2020\. The median prison term was 6 months in both of those years. Over all years 2016 to 2025, 798 people were sentenced under the guideline, 32% went to prison, and 98% pleaded guilty. The table shows each year. The Commission lists the offense type for all 82 cases in 2019 as Environmental, which is the Commission's own category. A count of 82 people is small, and one year does not show a trend. | 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% | ## Limits of This Data The records include 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, 2018 to September 30, 2019. 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 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q2.1 (82), 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) - [§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants/) (overview) - [§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants-fy2018/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants-fy2020/) (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.