§2T3.1 Evading Import Duties or Restrictions (Smuggling): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 10 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2T3.1, which the Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles "Evading Import Duties or Restrictions (Smuggling); Receiving or Trafficking in Smuggled Property." Only 3 of the 10 (30%) received a prison term, and 6 (60%) received
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In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 10 people were sentenced in federal court under guideline §2T3.1, which the Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles "Evading Import Duties or Restrictions (Smuggling); Receiving or Trafficking in Smuggled Property." Only 3 of the 10 (30%) received a prison term, and 6 (60%) received probation only. The median prison term for those 3 was 5.3 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 10 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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.
Probation Was More Common Than Prison
Among the 10 people sentenced under §2T3.1 in fiscal year 2016, 6 (60%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 3 (30%) were sent to prison.
The median prison term for those 3 people was 5.3 months. A quarter received 8.6 months or more, and a quarter received 3.1 months or less. With only 3 people, these figures describe a very small group.
The Commission lists these cases under the offense type Tax. Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
How the Fiscal Year 2016 Group Compares With All Years
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 84 people were sentenced. 52% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 5.1 months. The share sent to prison in fiscal year 2016 was lower than that, at 30%.
The median prison term of 5.3 months in fiscal year 2016 is about the same as the all-years median of 5.1 months.
All 10 Pleaded Guilty
10 of the 10 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 90% had a written plea agreement, and 10% were straight pleas with no agreement.
For all years under this guideline, guilty pleas were 99%. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 under any guideline, they were 97%.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
4 sentences (40%) were within the guideline range. 5 (50%) were below the range at the government's request. None were below it without a government request, and 1 (10%) was above the range.
Across all years under this guideline, 48% of sentences were within the range. The share for all guidelines in fiscal year 2016 was 49%. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 10 people.
Fines, Restitution, Supervised Release, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 4 people (40%), and restitution for 6 people (60%). 2 people (20%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 18 months.
90% were in the lowest criminal history category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI.
The Yearly Table and What It Cannot Show
The table lists each fiscal year. Groups under this guideline range from 3 to 14 people, and some years show a median of 0 months. The all-guideline group in fiscal year 2016 had 67,742 people and a median prison term of 24 months.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, and the records do not describe individual cases.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 10 | 5.3 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 6 | 8 months | 5 of 6 |
| 2018 | 8 | 0 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2019 | 3 | 0 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2020 | 9 | 0.8 months | 9 of 9 |
| 2021 | 6 | 9.1 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2022 | 14 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 7 | 12 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2024 | 9 | 1.9 months | 9 of 9 |
| 2025 | 12 | 4.4 months | 100% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2T3.1 (10), 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)
- §2T3.1 Evading Import Duties or Restrictions (Smuggling): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- 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.