§2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 11 of the 13 people sentenced under §2X1.1 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 60 months (5 years). A quarter received 102 months or more. The group is small, so these figures rest on few people.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by › §2X1.1: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 11 of the 13 people sentenced under §2X1.1 (85%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 60 months (5 years). A quarter received 102 months or more. The group is small, so these figures rest on few people.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 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.
Long Prison Terms for Most of the Group
11 of the 13 people (85%) received a prison term. 2 (15%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 60 months (5 years).
A quarter received 102 months or more, and a quarter received 21.2 months or less. The wide gap between those figures shows that prison terms in this group varied a great deal. The terms are those imposed, not time served.
The all-years median prison term for §2X1.1, from fiscal years 2016 to 2025, is 36 months. The 2016 median was higher than that, and so was the median for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 under every guideline, which was 24 months.
What §2X1.1 Is and What Offenses Sit Behind It
Guideline §2X1.1 is titled "Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline)" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. It is used when an attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy is not covered by a more specific guideline. The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 13 people in fiscal year 2016 whose primary guideline was §2X1.1.
Because this guideline applies across many kinds of crime, the Commission's offense types for the group differ. In fiscal year 2016 they were Other 3, Robbery 3, Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement 2, and Child Pornography 1. The last of these is child pornography (images of child exploitation), and the data does not give more detail on that case or any other.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Pleas, Trials, and Mandatory Minimums
12 of the 13 (92%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 62 months. After a trial it was 50 months, based on that 1 person. One person cannot represent trial sentences in general.
Among guilty pleas, 92% had a written plea agreement, and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 13 people with that information recorded (8%).
Against the Guideline Range
7 sentences (54%) were within the guideline range. 3 (23%) were below the range at the government's request, and 3 (23%) were below the range without a government request. None was above the range.
The all-years share within the range under §2X1.1 is 43%, and for all guidelines in fiscal year 2016 it is 49%. The 54% in fiscal year 2016 is higher than both.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
11 people (85%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 1 (8%), and restitution for 1 (8%).
69% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category, and 8% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Neighboring Years and the Full Record
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 152 people were sentenced under §2X1.1. 89% were sent to prison, and guilty pleas were 91%. The next fiscal year, 2017, had 15 people, a median prison term of 28 months, and sentences within the range at 33%.
In all of fiscal year 2016, 67,742 people were sentenced under every guideline, with guilty pleas of 97%. The yearly table below lists each year's count and median.
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records do not show the conduct behind any sentence.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 13 | 60 months | 92% |
| 2017 | 15 | 28 months | 93% |
| 2018 | 23 | 27 months | 83% |
| 2019 | 16 | 36.5 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 13 | 24 months | 92% |
| 2021 | 16 | 20 months | 94% |
| 2022 | 15 | 33 months | 80% |
| 2023 | 20 | 41 months | 95% |
| 2024 | 10 | 33.5 months | 90% |
| 2025 | 11 | 60 months | 100% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2X1.1 (13), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (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.