§2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
Of the 69 people sentenced in fiscal year 2022 with §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary guideline, 26 (38%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 7.7 months. All 69 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Of the 69 people sentenced in fiscal year 2022 with §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary guideline, 26 (38%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 7.7 months. All 69 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 69 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Median Prison Term of 7.7 Months
The median prison term in fiscal year 2022 was 7.7 months for the 26 people sent to prison. A quarter received 12.8 months or more, and a quarter received 0.5 months or less.
The median for this guideline in 2021 was 6 months, and in 2023 it was 10 months. The 2022 median was higher than 2021 and lower than 2023. Across all years 2016 to 2025, the median was 6 months.
For everyone sentenced in federal court in 2022 under every guideline, the median prison term was 30 months.
Prison, Probation, and Supervised Release
Of the 69 people, 26 (38%) received prison, and 34 (49%) 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.
After prison, 23 people (33%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 36 months.
Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 37 people (54%), and restitution for 14 (20%). A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 68 people with that information recorded.
Plea Rates and Written Agreements
Every person in the group, 69 of 69 (100%), pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. For all guidelines in 2022, guilty pleas were 97%.
A written plea agreement was part of 97% of the guilty pleas. Straight pleas with no agreement were 3%.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Advisory Range
Within the range: 51% (35). Below the range at the government's request: 19% (13). Below the range without a government request: 30% (21). Above the range: 0% (0).
The share within the range was higher than the 42% for all federal cases in 2022. It was also higher than the 49% for this guideline in 2021 and lower than the 67% in 2023.
Criminal History, Offense Type, and Limits
In criminal history, 90% 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 lists the offense type for all 69 cases as Environmental.
The table shows every year from 2016 to 2025. In 2021 there were 73 people, and in 2023 there were 79. A count of 69 is small, and the records cannot show why any measure moved from year to year.
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. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
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 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q2.1 (69), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2Q2.1 Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.