§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 73 people were sentenced under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary federal guideline. A fine was ordered for 48 (66%), and probation only went to 49 (67%). Prison was imposed on 18 (25%), with a median prison term of 6 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants › §2Q2.1: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 73 people were sentenced under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary federal guideline. A fine was ordered for 48 (66%), and probation only went to 49 (67%). Prison was imposed on 18 (25%), with a median prison term of 6 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 73 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.
Fines Were Common in 2021
A fine was ordered for 48 of the 73 people (66%), and restitution for 25 (34%). The Commission counts these orders separately, so the records do not show how many people received both.
Most people in this group did not receive a prison term. The Commission's counts show 49 people (67%) with probation only, meaning no prison or other confinement, so a fine or restitution was often the main financial part of the sentence.
After prison, 17 (23%) were ordered to serve supervised release, and the median term was 24 months.
Prison Terms for 18 People
Prison was imposed on 18 people (25%). Their median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 11.5 months or more, and a quarter received 2.1 months or less.
For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 under every guideline, the median prison term was 29 months. The median under this guideline was lower than that.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 73 people (0%). Across all years 2016 to 2025, the median under this guideline was also 6 months.
No Trials in This Group
All 73 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. For all guidelines in 2021, guilty pleas were 98%. A written plea agreement was part of 93% of the guilty pleas, and 7% were straight pleas with no agreement.
How Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
The Commission had the information for 72 people. Within the range: 49% (35). Below the range at the government's request: 31% (22). Below the range without a government request: 21% (15). Above the range: 0% (0).
Sentences within the range were more common here than the 43% for all federal cases in 2021. The share was higher than the 40% in 2020 and lower than the 51% in 2022 for this guideline.
Criminal History and the Offense Type
In criminal history, 82% were in the lowest category, category I, and 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Commission's offense type for all 73 cases is Environmental. That is the Commission's category for grouping cases.
Nearby Years and Limits
The year before, 2020, had 80 people and a median prison term of 6 months. The year after, 2022, had 69 people and a median of 7.7 months. The table shows every year from 2016 to 2025.
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are missing. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
With 73 people, a single year is not a trend. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
| 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% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q2.1 (73), 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)
- §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 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: 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.