> ## 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 2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants-fy2025/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:26:50.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:26:50.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2025, 90 people were sentenced in federal court under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 4.4 months, the lowest median in the 2016 to 2025 table. Prison was imposed on 44 (49%), and 41 (46%) received probation - 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: FY2025 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2025, 90 people were sentenced in federal court under §2Q2.1, "Offenses Involving Fish, Wildlife, and Plants," as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 4.4 months, the lowest median in the 2016 to 2025 table. Prison was imposed on 44 (49%), and 41 (46%) received probation only. 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 90 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025\. 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 Median Prison Term of 4.4 Months Among the 44 people sent to prison in fiscal year 2025, the median prison term was 4.4 months. A quarter received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 1 month or less. The prior year, 2024, had a median of 6 months, which is higher. Across all years 2016 to 2025, the median under this guideline was 6 months. For everyone sentenced in federal court in 2025, the median prison term was 24 months. ## The Share Sent to Prison Prison was imposed on 44 of the 90 people (49%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 41 (46%). The share sent to prison was higher than the 32% for all years 2016 to 2025. After prison, 27 people (30%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 90 people (0%). | 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% | ## Guilty Pleas Without Written Agreements A total of 89 of 90 people (99%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. For all guidelines in 2025, guilty pleas were 98%. Among the guilty pleas, 81% had a written plea agreement, and 17% were straight pleas with no agreement. The remaining pleas are not classified in the Commission's counts used here. ## Guideline Range Results Within the advisory range: 57% (51). Below the range at the government's request: 19% (17). Below the range without a government request: 24% (22). Above the range: 0% (0). The share within the range was higher than the 51% for all federal cases in 2025\. It was also higher than the 54% for this guideline in 2024. ## Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History A fine was ordered for 40 people (44%), and restitution was ordered for 27 (30%). Court-martial records have no criminal history field, but the Commission's records do. In criminal history, 91% were in the lowest category, category I, and 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## What This Year Cannot Show All 90 cases carry the Commission's offense type Environmental, which is a category the Commission assigns. The fiscal year began October 1, 2024 and ended September 30, 2025. Only people who were convicted and sentenced appear in these counts, so anyone acquitted or whose case was dismissed is absent. The prison terms reported are the terms imposed by the court. They do not show how much time a person actually served. A median of 4.4 months comes from a small group, and the records cannot show why it differs from other years. The table lists the other years for comparison, and a single year does not make a trend. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. The numbers here are federal only. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2Q2.1 (90), 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 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2q2-1-offenses-involving-fish-wildlife-and-plants-fy2024/) (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.